Judge mulls arguments in Mississippi death penalty protocol
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge will decide whether to block Mississippi from using three drugs when it puts inmates to death. His ruling could determine whether the state carries out its next execution in about two weeks. U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate heard arguments Monday in a lawsuit filed in 2015 on behalf of some Mississippi death row inmates. Wingate noted that one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Thomas Edwin Loden Jr., faces a Dec. 14 execution date. The mother of the 16-year-old girl killed by Loden watched the court hearing. Wanda Farris of Fulton says she has waited 22 years for justice for her daughter, Leesa Gray.
