State prison inmate Roderick Nunley has been granted a stay from his midnight execution that was scheduled for Tuesday night.
The Kansas City Star reports that Chief U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan granted the stay, as Nunley’s lawyers asked for consideration as to whether Nunley is entitled to by sentenced by a jury rather than a judge.
Nunley was to be executed tomorrow night for kidnapping, raping, and killing a 15-year-old Kansas City girl more than 21 years ago. Nunley does not deny kidnapping Ann Harrison but he does deny raping her. He tells the Kansas City Star his accomplice, Michael A. Taylor, raped her. Both later stabbed her multiple times.
Taylor also escaped execution more than four years ago when last-minute court appeals produced stays. He is still under a death sentence, but no execution date has been set.
