Convicted Missouri killer Mark Christeson will live another day after the United States Supreme Court halted his execution due to a pending court appeal, according to The Associated Press.
The court said Christeson's execution must be halted while the justices decide on whether to grant his request for new representation, according to TheHill.com. Three judges voted against halting the execution.
After being convicted of murder 16 years ago, Christeson, 35, was scheduled to die early ednesday morning by lethal injection, but a failed federal court appeal halted the sentencing, the AP reported. Another appeals challenging the lethal injection drug has been denied by the court.
"No matter how anybody feels about the death penalty, you can't find a person around here who doesn't feel it's the right result for this case," prosecutor Terry Daley Schwartze said
Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman Mike O'Connell said it "is something that will be taken up in court," according to the AP.
Christeson's appeal said his legal counsling had not been up to par since being incarcerated, including a missed 2005 deadline by his lawyers needed for him to file an appeal, TheHill.com reported.
If and when his execution goes through, he will be the ninth person to be executed in Missouri this year, the AP reported. A man convicted for the murder of a gas station attendant in 1994 is scheduled to be the tenth execution on Nov. 19.
Christeson, along with a cousin, robbed from a mother and her children. They then proceeded to rape and kill them by cutting their throats and drowning them, according to the AP. The cousins were arrested eight days later in California after driving there in the dead family's car they had stolen.
Christeson's cousin was sentenced to life in prison without parole after agreeing to testify, the AP reported.
