Lawyers try to spare inmate’s life as execution nears

This undated photo provided by the Virginia Department of Corrections shows inmate Alfredo Prieto. Virginia is poised to execute Prieto, a serial killer, who claims he’s intellectually disabled using lethal injection drugs from Texas because the state’s supply of another controversial drug will expire the day before the execution is supposed to take place. (Virginia Department of Corrections via AP) This undated photo provided by the Virginia Department of Corrections shows inmate Alfredo Prieto. Virginia is poised to execute Prieto, a serial killer, who claims he’s intellectually disabled using lethal injection drugs from Texas because the state’s supply of another controversial drug will expire the day before the execution is supposed to take place. (Virginia Department of Corrections via AP)

By Associated Press October 1, 2015 3 min read

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Attorneys for a convicted serial killer in Virginia are pushing to spare his life as the 49-year-old’s scheduled execution draws near.

The state had been planning to execute Alfredo Prieto at 9 p.m. Thursday at the Greensville Correctional Center, but it was unclear whether that will take place.

The El Salvador native was on death row in California for raping and murdering a 15-year-old girl when DNA evidence linked him to the rape and murder of Rachael Raver and the slaying of her boyfriend, Warren Fulton III. Authorities have linked Prieto to several other killings in California and Virginia but he was never prosecuted because he had already been sentenced to death.

A federal judge in Alexandria approved an order Wednesday temporarily blocking Prieto’s execution, and called for a hearing after his attorneys raised concerns about one of the lethal injection drugs that the state intends to use.

But the hearing was canceled after the case was transferred to a new judge in Richmond. As of late Wednesday, no new hearing had been set on the matter.