MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Alabama is set to execute a man who has had planned lethal injections delayed by the courts seven times.
Seventy-five-year-old Tommy Arthur is scheduled to be put to death Thursday for the 1982 murder-for-hire of Troy Wicker.
Judy Wicker initially told police a black man broke into the house, raped her and killed her husband. After her conviction, she testified that Arthur killed her husband while wearing a wig and makeup.
Arthur's legal team has made last-minute appeals seeking to stay the execution. They argued the state intends to use an unreliable sedative and has refused DNA testing on the wig.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Arthur is an egregious example of how a convicted murderer can manipulate the legal system "to avoid justice."
Arthur maintains his innocence.