BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) – A last-minute stay from a federal judge has put a Missouri inmate’s execution temporarily on hold.
John Middleton was scheduled to die one minute after midnight Wednesday for killing three people in rural northern Missouri in 1995. Less than two hours before the execution, U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry granted a stay, ruling that there was enough evidence of mental illness that a new hearing should be held.
Courts have established that executing the mentally ill is unconstitutional.
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but that court adjourned for the night without a ruling.
It was a confusing end to a day that saw a flurry of court actions. Perry first granted a stay early Tuesday, but it was overturned by the appeals court. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to overturn the appeals court ruling and also declined to halt the execution on several other grounds, including the contention by Middleton’s attorneys that he was innocent of the crimes.