Lawyers try to spare inmate’s life as execution nears

The U.S. Supreme Court also refused to block Prieto’s execution. He was not prosecuted because he was already on death row at the time. He thanked his lawyers, supporters and family members, and his final words were “Get this over with”, according to Lisa Kinney, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Corrections. Prieto’s execution has been scheduled for 9 p.m.

A California murderer who spent more than a decade on death row in San Quentin was executed in Virginia on Thursday night for a double murder in the suburbs of Washington.

UPDATE: 10/1/2015 6:16 p.m.

U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson on Thursday lifted a temporary restraining order that had been granted after Prieto’s attorneys raised safety concerns about one of the lethal injection drugs the state intends to use.

Robert Lee, an attorney for Prieto, said in a statement after the execution, “Tonight the Commonwealth executed a man without knowing whether he has intellectual disability or not, using drugs that are far beyond their approved date of use”.

Prieto was extradited to Virginia, where officials were confident he could be convicted and executed long before his California appeals were exhausted.

All of Prieto’s victims were abducted by him.

Prieto, 49, was convicted in 2010 of the rape and capital murder of two people found in a vacant lot near Reston in December of 1988. But the high court declined to grant his requests to stay the execution on Thursday shortly before Hudson’s ruling was issued.

Elise Cleva stands holding a sign as she participates in a moment of silence during an anti-death penalty vigil in reaction to the planned execution of Alfredo Prieto, near the Clarendon metro station in Arlington, Va., on Thursday, October 1, 2015.

He was then on death column in California for the 1990 assault and murder of a 15-year-old young lady, who was kidnapped alongside two other young ladies in Ontario.

Prieto’s lawyers want to know the name of the supplier, tests confirming its sterility and potency and documents showing that the drugs were properly handled. A Mylan spokeswoman said Wednesday that Virginia purchased the drugs from a wholesaler.

Protesters gathered outside of the Charlottesville City Courthouse to demonstrate against the execution of convicted serial killer Alfredo Prieto.

Terry McAuliffe says the state may have difficulty in the future obtaining lethal injection drugs if the manufacturers can’t be shielded from the public.