State Moves Forward on Cook Execution
NewsCentral Producer
Story Created:
Feb 21, 2013 at 11:46 AM EDT
Story Updated:
Feb 21, 2013 at 11:45 PM EDT
ATLANTA - The Georgia Attorney General's office has filed a petition asking the state supreme court to lift a legal barrier and allow tonight's planned execution of convicted murderer Andrew Allen Cook.
The Georgia Department of Corrections told WGXA that it is moving forward on the planned 7 p.m. execution by lethal injection, despite a temporary halt that was granted Wednesday.
The Georgia Court of Appeals temporarily halted the execution after Cook's attorneys argued about the drugs the state planned to use for the execution.
Cook's attorneys argued the state is violating the law by using pentobarbital in executions without a prescription.
On Wednesday, the state asked the court to deny Cook's request for a stay, arguing that the challenge is frivolous.
Cook is one of two Georgia inmates scheduled for execution this week. Warren Lee Hill's execution was put on hold Tuesday, less than an hour before he was to die by lethal injection.
Earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Cook's request for a delay and the state Board of Pardons and Parole denied his clemency request.
Cook was convicted of killing two Mercer University students in 1995.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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