Court dismisses attack on execution by inmate

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - By BRETT BARROUQUERE
Associated Press Writer

A Kentucky death row inmate facing execution in less than two weeks lost a challenge to the state's lethal injection method.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Friday ruled that 53-year-old Gregory Lee Wilson challenged the way Kentucky handles executions too late when he filed suit in December 2008.

The ruling comes as Wilson moves toward a Sept. 16 execution. A jury sentenced Wilson to death in 1988 for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Deborah Pooley in Northern Kentucky a year earlier. A co-defendant in the case, Brenda Humphrey, is serving a life sentence.

Wilson challenged the use of sedatives given to an inmate before an execution, saying they interfered with the deadly three-drug cocktail.