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Legal Questions In Flux Over Tennessee Execution

belchonock, 123rf stock photo

Legal challenges continue to surround a Tennessee death row inmate whose execution has been temporarily halted.

Edmund Zagorski had been scheduled to be executed Thursday evening until the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay on Wednesday over questions of whether Zagorski had adequate representation.

In return, the state has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the decision, arguing the federal appeals court disregarded Tennessee's interest in enforcing "criminal judgments."

However, even if the delay is overturned, other legal challenges are still pending before the Supreme Court seeking to halt both the timing and method of the execution.

Zagorski was sentenced in 1984 for the slayings of two men during a drug deal in Robertson County.

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