Execution of cop killer halted in Ky.

The execution of a man convicted of murdering a sheriff and his deputy was halted by the Kentucky Supreme Court on Wednesday, two weeks before he was set to die in the state's first lethal injection in eight years.

Justices said they wanted to consider whether Ralph S. Baze's initial trial for the 1992 shooting deaths was improperly moved to another county. Since Baze's appeal was filed before the governor signed the death warrant in August, Baze has the right to have the issue heard, Chief Justice Joseph Lambert said in the one-page ruling.

The court in Frankfort set a hearing for Nov. 15 on the issue.

"It just vindicated what we've said all along about the warrant being signed prematurely," said public defender David Barron, one of Baze's attorneys.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who faces re-election in November, generated a storm of critics who questioned whether politics were at play when the Baze's execution was set for Sept. 25.

"The election is coming up and he doesn't want to be soft on crime," Baze told The Associated Press after the ruling on Wednesday. He said he was "tickled" his attorneys will an opportunity to argue his appeal before the justices.

Fletcher's executive counsel, David Fleenor, denied politics and the election were involved in the decision to sign the warrant. The U.S. Supreme Court had rejected Baze's final direct appeal in July, clearing the way for the execution to be set this summer, Fleenor said.

Baze, 52, was condemned to death for shooting Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and Deputy Arthur Briscoe 15 years ago. Baze has said the shootings were the result of a family dispute that got out of hand.

He still has three appeals pending before the state's highest court; all were filed before the governor signed the death warrant. Baze has two other cases pending in federal court in Kentucky and another case on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In addition, he filed a state lawsuit Wednesday claiming that procedures of the execution team violate state law. The suit claims it is against the law for an emergency medical technician to insert an IV line without a doctor present to supervise. Kentucky law prohibits doctors from taking part in an execution.

Much of Kentucky's execution protocol is secret, but interviews and depositions revealed that an EMT participates.

Attorney General Greg Stumbo said his office would continue working toward Baze's execution.

"We are confident that any remaining issues will be resolved in the Commonwealth's favor," Stumbo said.

Kentucky has executed two people since 1976. Harold McQueen was executed in the electric chair in 1997 for killing a convenience store clerk in 1981. Eddie Lee Harper was executed in Kentucky's only lethal injection in 1999.