Condemned child killer asks for stay of execution

Meanwhile in Florida Mark Dean Schwab is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6pm (11pm Irish time) for the 1991 kidnapping, rape and murder of 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez in the first Florida execution since the botched injection death of Angel Diaz last December.

It took 34 minutes for Diaz to die, twice as long as normal, because the guards pushed the needles through his veins.

Death row lawyers widely expect Schwab's execution to be stopped by the Supreme Court, which has blocked executions in three other states while it considers the test case of two Kentucky inmates challenging the toxic three-drug combination used by the state in lethal injections.

Florida uses the same drugs and Schwab's appeal claims the chemicals violate the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Schwab's application is before Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who has the authority to act alone or refer it to his colleagues.

The popular opinion among attorneys who represent death row inmates is that Schwab will receive a stay of execution. If Justice Thomas asks his colleagues on the high court to join him in deciding, five of the nine justices must agree.

"It seems there is a de facto moratorium on executions," said defence lawyer Todd Doss. But he added the case might not be stayed because the state-appointed appeals lawyers are not allowed to file it as a civil rights action.

In its response to Schwab's appeal, the state of Florida has argued the inmate should not be given a stay because he did not raise the chemical issue in the Florida courts.

It also said the state's procedure is designed to prevent potentially painful drugs from being injected until an inmate is "deeply unconscious".