Killer's planned execution delayed

Killer's planned execution delayed

The U.S. Supreme Court on halted Virginia's planned execution of a man who murdered a co-worker.

Virginia had been preparing to execute Christopher Scott Emmett, 36, even as several other states had stopped executions after the high court agreed to review claims that the lethal injection method is unconstitutionally cruel.

Emmett had been scheduled to be put to death Wednesday night for the 2001 bludgeoning murder of a co-worker, John Fenton Langley.

The stay granted by the court Wednesday will last until a Richmond, Virginia-based federal appeals court takes another look at the case. The justices did not comment further on their order.