JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to halt the pending execution of a Missouri inmate who was convicted of abducting, raping and fatally stabbing a Kansas City teenager nearly 25 years ago.
Michael Taylor is scheduled for lethal injection just after midnight Wednesday. The high court issued its rulings about an hour earlier, shortly after Gov. Jay Nixon denied a clemency request.
In their appeals, Taylor’s attorneys questioned Missouri’s use of an unnamed compounding pharmacy to provide the execution drug. They also say Taylor’s original trial attorney was so overworked that she encouraged him to plead guilty to lessen her own workload.
Others close to the case say they’re shocked it has taken the state so long to carry out the execution.
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