NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Tennessee's current procedure for lethal injections amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger's ruling could halt an execution scheduled for next week.
A spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office says they are reviewing the decision to decide if they will appeal.
Death row inmate Edward Jerome Harbison was scheduled to be executed early next Wednesday, but the order does not give him a stay of execution. He was convicted of beating an elderly woman to death in 1983.
The ruling says the death sentence remains until it can be lawfully executed by a valid method of execution.
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