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Convicted Killer At Center Of Lethal Injection Controversy Granted Stay Of Execution

A convicted killer who was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday has been granted a stay of execution.

Attorneys for the man and the state Department of Corrections met with a federal judge Monday in Baton Rouge and agreed to a 90 day delay, in order to review the controversial method of execution.

Christopher Sepulvado was scheduled to be executed Wednesday with a combination of drugs never before tried in the state of Louisiana.

But on Monday a federal judge in Baton Rouge put that on hold because of questions surrounding a new method of lethal injection.

The state added a new method last week that uses two drugs after having trouble procuring a single execution drug.

The concoction of the sedative midazolam and the painkiller hydromorphone was used for the first time last month in Ohio. The inmate  reportedly gasped for air and snorted for several minutes before dying.

Sepulvado’s lawyers argue that he has the right to know how the state will execute him. A hearing will be held in April.

Sepulvado was sentenced to death in 1993 for killing his stepson. He beat the 6-year-old with a screwdriver and held him in scalding water.

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