Lawyer To File Motion To Stay Execution
by Associated Press
October 24, 2012 11:56 AM
An attorney representing a Sioux Falls woman with loose family ties to death row inmate Donald Moeller says he'll be asking a federal appeals court to halt Moeller's upcoming execution.
Donna Nichols' attorney, Robert Van Norman, said a motion to stay the execution was being filed with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol denied Nichols' motion to stay the execution and intervene in the case. Nichols, whose mother married Moeller's stepfather, says Moeller wasn't psychologically qualified to dismiss his appeals.
Moeller was convicted for the 1990 kidnapping, rape and murder of 9-year-old Becky O'Connell. He recently asked a federal judge to dismiss his appeals and let him die.
His execution is scheduled for next week.
