U.S. Supreme Court halts execution of Leroy White for further review

Leroy White

ATMORE, AL -- The U.S. Supreme Court halted the execution of Leroy White this evening just moments before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection.

The court issued a temporary stay until it could finish reviewing the details of the appeal, said Brian Corbett, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections.

White, 52, was convicted of murder in the Oct. 17, 1988, shotgun slaying of his estranged wife, Ruby White, at her northwest Huntsville home.

White will remain in a holding cell adjacent to the execution room at Holman Prison in Atmore until the Supreme Court gives further instruction, Corbett said.

White would be the fourth person from Madison County - and first since 1998 - executed since the state took over executions from the counties in 1927.

Source: al.com, January 13, 2011

Justice Thomas stops Alabama execution temporarily

ATMORE, Ala. — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has temporarily stopped the execution of a convicted killer in Alabama pending further action by the court.

Thomas issued the temporary stay shortly before the execution of Leroy White was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Thursday at Holman Prison in Atmore.

The temporary stay gives the court additional time to consider legal arguments in the case.

White was sentenced to die for the 1988 shotgun slaying of his estranged wife, Ruby. White fired while holding their 17-month-old daughter in his arms.

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, the Alabama Supreme Court and a federal judge in Alabama declined to intervene in the execution earlier Thursday.

Source: AP, January 13, 2011