Arizona prosecutors oppose execution stay for Lopez
Jun 25, 2012, 3:32 PM | Updated: 3:34 pm
PHOENIX — Arizona prosecutors have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to deny a stay of execution for a condemned inmate scheduled to die by injection Wednesday.
In a response filed Monday, Arizona prosecutors say a motion filed by Samuel Villegas Lopez’s lawyers seeking a stay from the high court lacks merit.
The Arizona Supreme Court already has turned down a request to delay Lopez’s execution at the state prison in Florence.
The state clemency board last week voted against recommending that Gov. Jan Brewer reduce Lopez’s death sentence to life in prison.
Lopez was convicted of brutally raping and killing a 59-year-old Phoenix woman in 1986.
If the execution proceeds, the 49-year-old Lopez will be the fourth inmate put to death in Arizona this year.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
