Supreme Court green lights Missouri lethal injection after delay

By Pete Williams and Tracy Connor, NBC News

A convicted murderer was executed with a controversial lethal injection in Missouri on Wednesday night after a day-long reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Herbert Smulls, 56, who was on death row for murdering a St. Louis jeweler during a 1991 heist, was pronounced dead at 10:20 p.m. central time -- less than two hours before his execution warrant would have expired.

Smull was scheduled to die nearly 24 hours earlier, but the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay while the full court weighed two petitions filed by defense lawyers.

The high court later denied the petitions and removed the stay -- and then vacated a stay issued by a lower court -- and last-minute motions by the defense could not stop the execution.

The defense had challenged Missouri's current method of lethal injection, which relies on a loosely regulated, out-of-state compounding pharmacy for the drug it uses.

Smulls' lawyers also argued he did not get a fair trial because prosecutors improperly removed a black woman from the jury pool, resulting in an all-white jury.

The condemned man waited out the legal maneuvering with a mix of dread and optimism, his legal team said.

"Our client is having a very difficult day," lawyer Cheryl Pilate said several hours before the execution.

"He's trying to remain hopeful while at the same time the people who want to execute him are hovering outside his door."

After the execution, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster issued a statement saying that his "thoughts and prayers" were with the widow, friends and family of victim Stephen Honickman.

Smulls'  execution focused fresh attention on prisons' controversial use of compounding pharmacies for drugs used in lethal injections.

With many drug manufacturers refusing to sell their products for executions, death-penalty states have increasingly turned to customer-order specialty pharmacies.

James A. Finley / AP

A 2005 photo of the death chamber at the Missouri Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Mo.

In Smulls' case, his lawyer argued that the state must disclose in court papers the name of the pharmacy that sold the pentobarbital so that it can investigate it and ensure the integrity and sterility of the drug.

His defense team has also argued that pentobarbital could cause extreme pain and cited the Jan. 9 execution of convicted killer Michael Lee Wilson in Oklahoma.

His final words were, "I feel my whole body burning," but he showed no signs of physical distress, according to a media witness.

In a motion filed with the Supreme Court opposing a stay of execution, Missouri noted that Smulls lost numerous challenges to his conviction and sentence in state and federal courts in the 21 years before Tuesday's 11th hour bid for a delay.

"The time for enforcement of Missouri’s criminal judgment against Herbert Smulls is long overdue," state lawyers wrote.

Scores of condemned prisoners across the nation have filed legal challenges to new lethal-injection protocols put in place as the old drugs have become unavailable.

In Ohio, convicted murderer Dennis McGuire failed to win a reprieve by arguing that an untried two-drug compound could trigger an agonizing phenomenon called "air starvation" before death, violating the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

When McGuire was executed Jan. 16, it took him 25 minutes to die and witnesses reported that he repeatedly gasped for air. Three prison guards filed incident reports claiming he said his lawyer told him to put on "a big show," but an investigation by the public defender's office found no evidence of that.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Wed Jan 29, 2014 10:58 PM EST

Utah headed to Supreme Court after appeals court refuses to stop same-sex weddings

  Jim Urquhart/ReutersJax Collins and Heather Collins were married Monday at the Salt Lake County Government Building after a federal judge Robert Shelby upheld his own order making same-sex marriage legal in Utah.By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC NewsUtah officials were busy Tuesday night planning an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal appeals court denied their request to stop same-sex marriages while they try to overturn a judge's ruling legalizing them.In a two-page order (.pdf) entered late Tuesday in Denver, two judges on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to grant Gov. Gary Herbert's request for a stay halting the marriages while Utah pursues its appeal. Herbert's office didn't return a call for comment, but the state attorney general's office — which filed the motion on his behalf — said it would seek an emergency stay with the Supreme Court as early as Thursday. That motion would be heard by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who has jurisdiction over the 10th Circuit.Herbert asked for a stay Monday after U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby upheld his own ruling that Utah's ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional.The appeals judges, Robert E. Bacharach and Jerome A. Holmes, fast-tracked Utah's appeal, but they said they wouldn't stop the marriages in the meantime, writing that the state would have a tough time proving that letting the marriages go ahead would cause "irreparable harm" or that it had a good shot at winning its appeal.Bacharach was appointed to the court by President Barack Obama; Holmes was appointed by President George W. Bush. While it prepares its Supreme Court motion,  the attorney general's office issued an advisory opinion telling county clerks that they could be held in contempt of court if they refused to issue marriage licenses. And Herbert's chief of staff sent a message telling state agencies that "where no conflicting laws exist you should conduct business in compliance with the federal judge's ruling until such time that the current district court decision is addressed by the 10th Circuit Court."The state Workforce Services Department said it would recognize the marriages as establishing eligibility for food stamps and other benefits.Hundreds of same-sex couples raced to county clerks' offices to get wedding licenses after Shelby's ruling Monday. Salt Lake County alone issued 353 licenses Monday, NBC station KSL of Salt Lake City reported — 4½ times its previous single-day record for marriage licenses.The Rev. Curtis Price was waiting in the lobby of the Salt Lake County Government Building to marry Shauna Griffen and Brooke Shepherd, who'd spent the night waiting in line wearing matching shirts proclaiming "Love conquers hate.""It was a long night. We were worried," Griffen told KSL. "I had faith in Salt Lake County — they came through."Watch the top videos on NBCNews.comThis story was originally published on Tue Dec 24, 2013 7:44 PM EST

Federal court refuses to halt same-sex marriage in Utah

 NEW YORK — A federal appeals court on Sunday declined to stop officials in Utah from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples following a judge's ruling last week that overturned the state's ban on gay marriage.Utah Governor Gary Herbert asked for an emergency stay to prevent marriage licenses from being issued to same-sex couples after U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby on Friday ruled the ban unconstitutional. The parties are due back before Shelby on Monday, as the state begins to appeal his ruling.The ruling, which made Utah the 18th state to allow same-sex nuptials, marked a major victory for gay rights activists in a conservative state where the Mormon Church wields considerable influence.It also touched off a rush to the altar by gay couples, especially in Salt Lake City, where a festive atmosphere broke out in the county government building that played host to a string of impromptu weddings - including that of a state senator to his longtime partner.Shelby found in the case brought by three gay couples that Utah's state constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman violated the rights of gay couples to due process and equal protection under the U.S. Constitution."I am very disappointed an activist federal judge is attempting to override the will of the people of Utah," Herbert said in a statement after the ruling.Advocates of gay marriage have won repeated victories in recent years as a growing portion of the American electorate has taken a more favorable view of same-sex relationships. A year and a half ago, just six states and the District of Columbia recognized same-sex marriage.In June, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a landmark victory for gay rights by forcing the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages in states where it is legal and paving the way for gay marriage in California.On Thursday, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled to allow same-sex marriage across the state. In November, Hawaii and Illinois governors signed bills to legalize same-sex weddings.Related:Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Rod Blagojevich corruption appeal to be heard by US appeals court

a  Charles Rex Arbogast / AP fileFormer Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich pictured in 2012 on his way to prison in Colorado.By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC NewsThe case of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will be back in court next month after a federal appeals court agreed Friday to hear arguments over whether to toss out his 2011 corruption conviction.In a brief ruling filed Friday in 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Chicago, the court set Dec. 13 for oral arguments on Blagojevich's contention that it should overturn his 14-year sentence to a federal penitentiary in Englewood, Colo.The mop-haired former politician has argued that he was simply engaging in standard political horse-trading when he was recorded wheeling and dealing for money and possibly a Cabinet position in return for appointing Valerie Jarrett to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate in 2008."It's a f---ing valuable thing," he was heard saying in a recording of a phone call played in court. "You just don't give it away for nothing." "If I don't get what I want ... I'll just take the Senate seat myself," he was recorded saying.Neither Jarrett — a senior adviser in the Obama White House — nor Obama have been accused of wrongdoing.Blagojevich eventually ended up appointing Roland Burris. After a legal battle, the appointment was upheld, and Burris served a little less than two years in the Senate. Blagojevich was impeached and later prosecuted.In an exhaustively detailed 169-page filing opposing Blagojevich's motion (PDF), Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Riggs Bonamici wrote that the "evidence was overwhelming" that Blagojevich broke the law by seeking to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder.She also noted that evidence at Blagojevich's trial showed that he had also been offered $1.5 million in campaign contributions from supporters of then-Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., if he would appoint Jackson to Obama's seat. "Blagojevich led, organized, and directed substantially more than five government and fundraising employees and outside consultants, whom he used to assist him in exchanging official acts for personal benefits," Bonamici wrote.Related:Former Illinois Gov. Blagojevich appeals corruption conviction, sentence