MS Inmate Faces Execution
Attorneys for Mississippi death row inmate Benny Joe Stevens say they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution now scheduled for Tuesday at the state penitentiary at Parchman.
Stevens has been put in a holding cell near the execution chamber and the prison was placed on lockdown Monday. The execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Stevens, now 52, was sentenced to death for the 1998 slayings of four people, including two children.
The state Supreme Court on Monday denied Stevens’ renewed request to block the execution.
Glenn Swartzfager, director of the Office of Capital Post Conviction Counsel, says he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution and allow Stevens to appeal on grounds that his trial attorney should have done a better job.
