An Indiana inmate was executed today for the 1981 slayings of a couple, the Associated Press reports. The lethal injection started about an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s order allowing him a new appeal. The high court announced its 6-3 decision less than a half hour before Marvin Bieghler’s scheduled execution.
The justices overturned a federal appeals court decision that granted Bieghler, 58, a chance to challenge the legality of lethal injection. Bieghler, an admitted drug dealer, was convicted in the deaths of a man and his pregnant wife whose bodies were found in their mobile home. The Supreme Court said Wednesday it would hear arguments in a Florida appeal contending that lethal injections are unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment. The Indiana case differed from the Florida case because Bieghler was allowed to contest the Indiana execution method and lost.
Link: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060127/NEWS01/601270522