Fed judge blocks Calif execution set for Thursday

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - September 28, 2010 U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel on Tuesday canceled the execution of Riverside County rapist-murderer Albert Greenwood Brown after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered him to reconsider that decision using different legal standards.

Fogel said he halted the execution because he didn't have enough time to decide the weighty constitutional issues Brown raised before his scheduled execution on Thursday at 9 p.m.

If a higher court doesn't reverse Fogel's decision by midnight Friday, the state will be unable to execute Brown - or any other death row inmate - for several months due to a shortage of a drug used in lethal injections.

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