A federal appeals court has stayed the execution of Tennessee death row inmate Edmund Zagorski to allow time for consideration of arguments that he had poor legal representation during his trial and sentencing.
In a split 2-1 decision, a panel of the 6th U.S. Court of Appeals halted Zagorski’s execution, which had been scheduled for Thursday. Execution plans remain on hold while the court resolves questions of whether Zagorski had adequate representation. They set no immediate timeline for deciding the case.
Zagorski’s lawyer had argued on a separate track that the state’s lethal injection method of execution was unconstitutional. Zagorski asked earlier in the week to be executed by electrocution, but the state had refused because it said he did not make the request in a timely manner.
Zagorski was convicted of the 1983 murder of two men in a drug deal.
