Virginia executes serial killer by lethal injection

Crimes that Prieto has been convicted or linked to by evidence include the 1988 shootings of Rachael Raver and Warren Fulton III on the outskirts of the U.S. capital, the Washington Post reported.

Prieto was sentenced to death in 2010 for murdering a young couple in Virginia almost two decades earlier.

A federal judge Thursday rejected a last-minute appeal from convicted serial killer Alfredo Prieto to stay his execution scheduled for Thursday night.

But U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson lifted a temporary order blocking Prieto’s execution on Thursday, saying that Prieto’s lawyers had not adequately shown that the drugs are unsafe. Virginia officials said in court filings he had been convicted of killing or suspected of killing at least nine people.

Prieto’s attorneys also want tests confirming the drug’s sterility and potency and documents showing that the drugs were properly handled, transported and stored.

Attorneys for Prieto, 49, wanted his execution delayed as they seek more information about the drugs, which were obtained from Texas’ prison system.

Margaret O’Shea, a lawyer from Attorney General Mark Herring’s office, urged the judge to dismiss those arguments, noting that Texas has used the same drugs without any problems in 24 executions over the past two years. The manufacturer of one of the drugs that Virginia officials plan to use to execute a death row inmate this week says it demanded that the state return the drugs when it learned of their intended use.

“Granting injunctive relief in these proceedings, then, may very well negate the Commonwealth’s ability to execute this serial murderer-rapist”, Herring’s office said.

Prieto had also asked the United States supreme court to intervene, saying he was intellectually disabled, and therefore ineligible for the death penalty.

“There is a substantial likelihood that he’s intellectually disabled but he’s never had a fair and reliable hearing to prove it”, wrote Hilary Potashner, a federal public defender based in Los Angeles.

Virginia has executed a convicted serial who claimed he was intellectually disabled.

Prieto’s execution has been scheduled for 9 p.m.

Prieto’s lawyers immediately appealed Hudson’s rulings, but were turned down by the appeals court.

A federal judge has scheduled a hearing to consider a Virginia inmate’s challenge to his execution hours before he is set to be put to death.

Due to an issue regarding the supplier of the drugs intended for Prieto’s execution, Federal Judge Anthony Trenga placed a temporary hold on the execution.

“The Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States were considering Mr Prieto’s request for a stay of execution but the Virginia Department of Corrections went ahead with the execution without waiting for a decision from the Justices”, Lee said in a statement.

The state has been planning to execute Alfredo Prieto at 9 p.m. on Thursday but it’s unclear whether that will take place.

His attorneys argued that the state should reconsider whether Prieto is intellectually disabled because the measure used during his 2008 trial was unconstitutional.

As of Wednesday evening, no judge had been assigned in Richmond and no hearings had been scheduled. California has had 747 inmates sentenced to death, but has carried out only 13 executions since 1976.