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CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A federal judge has granted a stay of execution for a man on South Carolina's death row, a day after officials said they couldn't secure the drugs needed for lethal injection.
U.S. District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis issued the stay Tuesday in the case of 52-year-old Bobby Wayne Stone, who was scheduled to die Dec. 1. Lewis noted that attorneys for Stone had filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pending before the court and argued that a stay was warranted.
Even if the state had the drugs to carry out the execution, Stone can pursue federal habeas corpus, the final stage of the appeals process, which can take time.
Stone was on death row for killing a Sumter County sheriff's deputy in February 1996.
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