In Raleigh, a man was executed for the 1992 killing...

In Raleigh, a man was executed for the 1992 killing of a store clerk after failed appeals that focused on whether lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Raymond Dayle Rowsey was pronounced dead at 2:23 a.m. following a lethal injection at Central Prison in Raleigh. Rowsey was sentenced to death for the March 24, 1992, slaying of Howard R. Sikorski. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Thursday night that Rowsey's execution could proceed. The state of North Carolina had asked the high court to overturn rulings of lower courts. Earlier the same day, a 4th U.S. Circuit of Appeals panel rule 2-1 to uphold a stay issued Wednesday night by a lower court judge. The case went to the high court after U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle of Elizabeth City granted a stay Wednesday. Boyle said attorneys who argued that lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment should have a hearing. Lawyers for Rowsey and 3 others on North Carolina death row sought to delay their clients' executions at least until the U.S. Supreme Court rules this year in a separate case involving a condemned Alabama prisoner. In the Alabama case, lethal injection was called unconstitutionally cruel because an inmate's arm would have to be cut open to reach a vein to accommodate the needle. Veins near the surface of the inmate's arm were damaged and unsuitable for injection. The wait for a high court decision also put on hold a Virginia execution originally scheduled for last month, in which the condemned inmate also has damaged blood vessels. Rowsey becomes the 1st condemned prisoner to be put to death this year in North Carolina, and the 3rd this year in the USA.