First Federal Execution Delayed

First Federal Execution Delayed. David Paul Hammer, who was scheduled to be the first federal prisoner executed since 1963, was granted a stay to file a federal appeal by January 31, 2001. Previously, Hammer had waived his right to appeal. His execution date had been set for Nov. 15, 2000. Another federal death row prisoner, Juan Raul Garza, who had been scheduled to die for the first time in August and subsequently in December, received two stays of execution from President Bill Clinton so that he could appeal for commutation of his sentence to life imprisonment under new clemency guidelines governing federal capital cases. "I am not satisfied that, given the uncertainty that exists, it is appropriate to go forward with an execution in a case that may implicate the very issues at the center of the uncertainty," said Clinton. His execution date is now set for May 12th , 2001.