MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Latest on the execution of Michael Wayne Eggers (all times local):
6:30 p.m.
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request to block the execution of an Alabama inmate whose former lawyers argued he was delusional when he dropped his appeals and asked to be put to death.
The decision came less than hour before 50-year-old Michael Wayne Eggers was scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday evening at a prison in southwest Alabama. The Supreme Court gave no explanation for its decision in a brief statement.
Eggers was sentenced to death for the 2000 strangulation murder of Bennie Francis Murray. Prosecutors said Eggers acknowledged killing Murray after an argument. She had hired him to work at her concession business with a traveling carnival.
In 2016, following disagreements with his attorneys, he asked Alabama to quickly schedule his execution.
His former lawyers had asked stop the execution, arguing Eggers has delusions and schizophrenia and was mentally incompetent when he made the decision to drop his appeals and fire his appointed lawyers. The Alabama attorney general’s office disputes that Eggers had severe mental illness and argued Eggers made a rational decision to drop his appeals.
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5 p.m.
An Alabama prisoner who asked to be put to death now says he wants no attorneys to visit him or witness his upcoming execution.
Michael Wayne Eggers is opposing efforts by his former attorneys to stop the execution, and has asked the state to schedule it. He is scheduled to be put to death at 6 p.m. CDT Thursday.
His former attorneys want the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. They argue that Eggers is mentally ill and delusional.
A prison spokeswoman said Eggers requested that no attorneys be allowed to visit him or witness the lethal injection. Eggers met with friends and family Thursday, but not attorneys.
Eggers was sentenced to death for the 2000 strangulation murder of his employer, Bennie Francis Murray. Prosecutors said Eggers admitted to strangling Murray during an argument.
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12:01 a.m.
A man convicted of killing his employer is set to be executed by the state of Alabama after dropping his appeals and asking to be put to death.
Fifty-year-old Michael Wayne Eggers is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at a southwest Alabama prison.
Eggers was sentenced to death for the 2000 strangulation murder of his employer, Bennie Francis Murray. Prosecutors said Eggers admitted to strangling Murray during an argument.
Eggers dropped his appeals and had asked the state to quickly schedule his execution.
His former attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. They argue Eggers suffers from schizophrenia and delusions and was mentally incompetent when he made that decision.
The state attorney general’s office is asking the court to let the execution proceed.