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Convicted murderer Donald Moeller will be executed next week.
Attorney General Marty Jackley says Federal District Judge Lawrence L. Piersol has denied the Motion for a Stay of Execution in the Moeller case.
A woman claiming to be Moeller's stepsister, Donna Nichols, filed the motion to try to halt Moeller's lethal injection. Nichols questioned Moeller's competency when he stopped fighting his execution, and wanted to be appointed his "next friend," which is essentially a guardian.
The Court ruled that the emergency motions for appointment of next friend or guardian is denied and that the appointment for the Arkansas Federal Public Defender as counsel for Moeller is terminated.
The Court further ordered "that the Motions for Stay of Execution is denied as there is no further jurisdiction now that the inquiry into Ms. Nichols' Motion for Stay of Execution is finished and the Motion found to be without merit."
A Notice of Appeal has been filed on behalf of Donald Moeller with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday October 19, 2012, and a briefing scheduled has been ordered.
"The law requires the State Court sentence to be carried out during the week of Sunday, October 28, 2012, through Saturday, November 3, 2012, unless the Governor or a Court having jurisdiction stays the proceeding. No stay has been issued at this time, and the United States Supreme Court has made it clear that a challenge to the method of execution does not entitle an inmate to an automatic stay of the proceeding," Jackley said.