USA - Washington. The State Supreme Court has stayed the execution of Cal Brown just hours before he was scheduled to die

The State Supreme Court has stayed the execution of Cal Brown just hours before he was scheduled to die. In a 5-4 ruling today, the high court granted the last-minute appeal that was filed by Brown's lawyers yesterday, after a Thurston County Superior Court Judge denied a stay of execution. Brown, 50, white, was scheduled to die by lethal injection early tomorrow morning at the Walla Walla Washington State Penitentiary. Brown was convicted of carjacking Holly Washa at knifepoint on May 1991. He robbed, raped and tortured the 22-year-old woman before stabbing and strangling her. It would have been the first execution in the state of Washington since that of James Elledge on Aug. 28, 2001 (see).