Executions likely to resume after court ruling

ATLANTA (Reuters) - For Tommy Arthur and around 19 other U.S. death row inmates, a Supreme Court ruling approving lethal injection will likely signal early execution dates.

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley stayed Arthur's execution in September hours before the convicted murderer was due to die at Holman prison. His daughter said she now expected the stay to be lifted.

"My father will be (among) the first persons to be executed," said Sherrie Stone, adding that the court's decision came as no surprise. Arthur was convicted of the murder-for-hire of his girlfriend's husband.

By a 7-2 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge by two Kentucky death row inmates who argued the current lethal injection method violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment by inflicting needless pain and suffering.

The court agreed to hear the Kentucky case last September and about 20 inmates including Arthur were given stays of execution pending its ruling, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Alabama's Attorney General Troy King and officials in other states said they would waste no time in lifting the stays.

"Today's decision has removed the barrier that has impeded justice for the past year," King said. "There can be no greater call than to once again diligently seek enforcement of death sentences that have lingered far too long."

Missouri's governor called on the state supreme court to issue execution orders on pending cases and Georgia's attorney general appealed to its state supreme court to vacate stays of execution in two cases.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 42 people were executed in the United States in 2007, the lowest number since 1994 when 31 were put to death.

THREE OTHERS TO DIE

Alabama's assistant attorney general Clay Crenshaw said the state wanted to renew execution date motions against three other death row inmates besides Arthur as soon as possible.

For those who received a stay, the next steps depend in part on where they are being held. Some states such as Texas stopped scheduling executions while in others defense lawyers appealed directly to the Supreme Court.

Death penalty experts said executions would likely resume first in states where no suspension was imposed.

"There will be some executions going through but we won't see 50 or 100 in a short time. This is still going to be case by case and I won't be surprised to see a case back in the next year or so in the Supreme Court," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

Opponents point to four cases in which death row inmates were exonerated since last September as evidence that the death penalty is flawed.

Condemned murderer Troy Davis came within 24 hours of execution last year in a case the Pope and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu have said was "troubling".

Davis was convicted in 1981 of killing a police officer but lawyers want a new hearing because seven of nine witnesses have recanted their original court testimony. Georgia's highest court rejected the appeals in March.

"Our case was always about innocence not about lethal injections and the constitutionality of it," said attorney Jason Ewart.

(Additional reporting by Peggy Gargis in Birmingham and James Vicini in Washington, Carey Gillam in Kansas and Karen Pierog in Chicago)

(Editing by Alan Elsner and Jim Loney)