Attorney: Don’t set execution amid lethal injection lawsuit

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi inmate’s attorney says the state should not set an execution date for her client because the inmate is part of an ongoing federal lawsuit that challenges the state’s execution method. Thomas Edwin Loden Jr. is a former U.S. Marine Corps recruiter. He was convicted in the 2000 rape and killing of a 16-year-old waitress. The 58-year-old Loden has been on death row since 2001. The Mississippi attorney general’s office on Oct. 4 asked the state Supreme Court to set Loden’s execution date. His attorney filed an objection Friday, saying Loden has not exhausted “all state and federal remedies” to try to avoid execution.