OKLAHOMA CITY — The U.S. Supreme Court lifted stays of execution on Thursday of two men in Oklahoma.
The stays of executions came only two hours ahead of the scheduled execution of death row inmate John Grant.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday to temporarily delay the first two executions in Oklahoma since 2015, but the state appealed to the Supreme Court to lift the delay.
Grant is scheduled to be executed at 4 p.m. Thursday.
He and other prisoners are challenging the state's lethal-injection procedure despite the upcoming scheduled executions.
Grant has initially been serving time for armed robbery charges when he stabbed and killed Gay Carter, a 58-year-old Dick Conner Correctional Center employee, in 1998.
He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 2000.
According to the Associated Press, his execution date was delayed after a botched lethal injection left an inmate writhing in pain on a gurney in 2014 and a mix-up in drugs in 2015.
Those mistakes drew wide criticism on the process, and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections put executions on hold.
After a six-year hiatus, ODOC recently announced the agency is preparing to resume executions again after taking time to make sure policies and practices are handled humanely and correctly.
Steps are being taken to make sure the process works as intended.
According to the Associated Press, the court also lifted the stay for Julius Jones, who is on death row for the shooting death of Edmond businessman Paul Howell in 1999.
Jones is scheduled for execution on Nov. 18.
Ryan Love at KJRH first reported this story.
