A German national, Karl LaGrand, will be put to death today after the US Supreme Court refused a stay of execution, a prison spokesman said in Florence, Arizona. Earlier yesterday an appeals court granted a stay of execution to LaGrand, hours before the convicted murderer was to die in the gas chamber.
The stay was granted by the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on the grounds that the use of the gas chamber could be "cruel and unusual punishment", and thus unconstitutional. Authorities in the state of Arizona immediately appealed to the US Supreme Court.
Arizona asserts that Karl LaGrand chose to die in the gas chamber rather than by lethal injection, and that previous appeals courts had ruled the method of execution constitutional.
Karl LaGrand (35) remains in the death chamber, a final holding cell before entering the gas chamber. LaGrand ate what was to be his last meal early yesterday morning, prison officials said.
LaGrand and his half-brother Walter (37), who is scheduled for execution next week, were sentenced to die for their role in the 1982 stabbing of a bank manager during a robbery attempt.
The gas chamber is rarely used for executions in the US but is allowed in five states including Arizona.
Some 73 foreigners from 26 countries are on death row in the United States, according to Amnesty International.
In Jasper, Texas, the sentence on the race murderer John William King, convicted on Tuesday, was still being awaited last night. He faces a possible death penalty.