Way Cleared to Set Execution Date
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appellate court on Wednesday lifted a stay of execution for Robert Alton Harris, clearing the way for prosecutors to obtain a new date for the state’s first execution in 23 years.
The state attorney general’s office had asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to relinquish control of the case by lifting the stay after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Harris’ appeal last week.
With the appellate court’s procedural action out of the way, prosecutors can now ask a San Diego County Superior Court judge to schedule a hearing at which an execution date will be set.
That hearing could be held as early Feb. 5. An execution date will be set for between 30 and 60 days after the hearing. Once the execution date is set, to stop it Harris’ attorneys must find a judge who will grant him a stay.
Harris’ attorneys, meanwhile, have filed a separate appeal to halt his execution with the California Supreme Court. The state court has set March 16 as the deadline for written briefs in the matter.
Harris, 37, is on San Quentin’s Death Row for killing two San Diego teen-agers in 1978.
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