Justices weigh appeals to block Arizona execution
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PHOENIX -- The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing last-minute appeals on behalf of an Arizona death-row inmate scheduled for execution Wednesday.
Richard Dale Stokley's lawyers said he's entitled to a new hearing on sentencing evidence. They also said his constitutional rights are being violated because another man convicted in the case has been released after serving 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors want the high court to deny the appeals. The prosecutors said the Arizona Supreme Court adequately considered evidence on possible leniency for Stokley. Prosecutors defended the disparity in sentences by saying the other man negotiated a plea agreement.
Stokley and another man were convicted of murdering 13-year-olds Mandy Meyers and Mary Snyder in rural Cochise County in 1991.
