America: Thomas Arthur may have greeted the day more warmly than usual yesterday morning because, just 24 hours earlier, he thought he would be dead, writes Denis Staunton.
Arthur was due to be executed at Alabama's Holman prison on Thursday for a 1982 contract killing.
But the state's governor Bob Riley agreed at almost the last minute to delay the execution for 45 days.
Riley made clear that he is determined that Arthur should die for his crime, but decided to postpone the execution while Alabama changes its protocol for the lethal injection used in executions.
Alabama announced this week that it was changing the recipe for its cocktail of lethal drugs, a day after the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case arguing that the lethal injection used in Kentucky constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment" which is banned by the US constitution.
Alabama's attorney general, Troy King, opposed postponing Arthur's execution, even if there were legitimate concerns that the lethal injection may not be painless.
"In this arena we take our eye off the ball and that ball is the criminal, and we forget about the people who suffered at his hands. I don't think it's the obligation of the state to remove any pain from the death penalty," King said.
Texas was unimpressed by the supreme court move, pressing ahead on Tuesday with the execution of Richard Bird and only halting a second execution on Thursday when the court ordered a stay.
Ten states, including California and Florida, have imposed a moratorium on executions because of concerns about the lethal injection, which is supposed to kill prisoners painlessly within minutes.
All states use the same three drugs - sodium thiopental, to sedate the prisoner; pancuronium bromide, to induce paralysis; and potassium chloride (which is most commonly used to salt icy roads), to induce cardiac arrest.
Medical researchers have warned that too low a dose of the first drug could leave prisoners conscious but paralysed as the final chemical is pumped through their veins.
A judge in Tennessee ruled this week that the state did not adequately ensure that inmates are properly anaesthetised during lethal injections, a problem that could "result in a terrifying, excruciating death".
Doctors and nurses are not allowed to kill, so the injection is administered by unqualified prison staff or unskilled outside contractors.
Christopher Newton's execution in Ohio last May took so long that he had to go to the bathroom halfway through.
It took almost two hours and 10 attempts to find a vein for the injection that eventually killed him.
The case before the supreme court, brought by lawyers on behalf of Ralph Baze and Thomas Bowling, who are sentenced to die in Kentucky, does not ask the court to ban lethal injections entirely.
"This case is about whether using chemicals, or a procedure that creates a known risk of pain and suffering, violates the cruel and unusual punishment clause when the chemicals and procedures could be replaced with alternatives that cause less risk of pain and suffering," the petition says.
The four most conservative justices on the court are "strict constructionists" who interpret the constitution according to what they imagine was the "original intent" of the framers when it was written.
Under this theory, the term "cruel and unusual punishment" does not derive meaning from "evolving standards of decency" as more liberal justices believe, but was fixed more than 200 years ago when very painful forms of punishment were commonplace.
The four most liberal judges are likely to uphold the Kentucky prisoners' claim, leaving justice Anthony Kennedy with the deciding vote.
The court has played an important role in limiting the death penalty in recent years, banning the execution of minors and the mentally handicapped.
DNA testing that has proved the innocence of many condemned prisoners has raised further doubts about capital punishment.
Two out of three Americans are in favour of capital punishment, although racial differences are marked, with three out of four whites backing the death penalty, while a majority of blacks and a plurality of Hispanics oppose it.
There may be little that citizens in other countries can do to stop the US from killing its own people.
However, some activists believe that Europeans could make an impact by putting pressure on EU companies that invest in the states that carry out most executions.
This year, it is Texas, Ohio and Alabama - all of which benefit from huge levels of European investment.