Court Considers Inmate's Plea To Stop Execution

Atmore, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama death row inmate has asked a federal appeals court to stop his execution for killing four people during a 1992 shooting spree in Mobile County.Jason Oric Williams is to be executed at 6 p.m. Thursday by lethal injection at Holman Prison in Atmore.
The 42-year-old Williams is to be the first person to die in Alabama's death chamber using the drug pentobarbital. The drug sodium thiopental was previously used in executions in Alabama, but the state switched drugs because of a nationwide shortage of that drug.
Williams' attorneys say the execution should be stopped because the state changed drugs.. Williams says in his appeal there's no guarantee he won't suffer great pain because the state is using pentobarbital for the first time.