Supreme Court to hear death row inmate's appeal

The US Supreme Court agreed today to hear a Florida death row inmate’s appeal that challenges that state’s lethal injection method, just hours after dramatically stepping to stop the man’s execution.

Clarence Hill’s lawyer said that he had been strapped to a gurney with IV lines running into his arms last night when Justice Anthony Kennedy issued a temporary stay.

The full court made the stay permanent, and ordered both sides to file more arguments.

Hill argues that the three chemicals used in Florida’s lethal injection method of execution cause pain, making his execution cruel and unusual punishment. His lawyer also contends that Hill is mentally retarded.

He is on death row for the October 19, 1982, murder of police officer Stephen Taylor, 26, and the wounding of his partner, Larry Bailly, when they responded to a silent alarm of a bank robbery.