In Richmond the U

In Richmond the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit granted a reprieve to James Edward Reid, who argued that the method of carrying out lethal injections is cruel and unusual punishment. The decision came the day before Reid, 57, was scheduled to be executed for the October 1996 slaying of 87-year-old Annie Lester The appellate court agreed to delay Reid's execution pending a high court ruling involving an Alabama death row inmate who contends that execution by injection would be cruel because his blood vessels are so degraded by intravenous drug abuse that he must undergo surgery before the injection is administered. In Reid's case, his attorneys argued that injecting the poison also would be difficult because he suffers from heart problems and medical conditions that would require prison officials to administer the injection to his leg.