US Supreme Court lifts stays; Oklahoma to execute man

By SEAN MURPHY
Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has lifted stays of execution for two Oklahoma men. The high court’s move Thursday allows the state to move forward with its first lethal injection in more than six years. The court lifted stays for John Marion Grant and Julius Jones that the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put in place a day earlier. They’re are among more than two dozen death row inmates who are challenging Oklahoma’s three-drug lethal injection protocols. Grant is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was sentenced to die for the 1998 stabbing death of a prison cafeteria worker. Jones’ execution is set for Nov. 18.