The lawyer for condemned prison inmate Michael Taylor says Attorney General Jay Nixon is acting prematurely by asking for a new execution date for Taylor.

Taylor’s execution was stayed in the last hours 16 months ago. A federal appeals court panel has ruled a federal judge should not have stayed the execution. Taylor’s lawyer says there are appeals remaining. She says the state has not shown, and cannot show, that the lethal injection system is humane.

Missouri has not had an execution since October, 2005.