High court stays Alabama execution

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked the scheduled execution of a convicted murderer in Alabama, the latest such reprieve since the justices agreed to rule on the use of lethal injection.

The court issued a stay in the case of Thomas Arthur, whose execution had been set for Thursday. The stay was to last until the court decides whether to take up Arthur's request that it rule on his separate lethal-injection challenge.

On September 25, the Supreme Court agreed to decide a challenge to the three-chemical cocktail used in lethal injection procedures in Kentucky, procedures similar to those used in other states such as Alabama.

There was an execution in Texas on September 25 but there have not been any since then.

Arthur was convicted in 1991 for killing a girlfriend's husband while he slept. The man's wife, also convicted in the killing, had testified in her own trial that a burglar raped her and killed her husband. She then testified in Arthur's trial that it was he who pulled the trigger.

(Reporting by Randall Mikkelsen; Editing by Xavier Briand)