Virginia's Governor Halts Executions While Supreme Court Decides Key Case

April 3, 2008 6:20 p.m. EST

Richmond, VA (AHN) - Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has issued a moratorium on the death penalty as the state awaits the outcome of a case set to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The move comes ahead of the scheduled execution of Edward Nathaniel Bell, who faces the death penalty for the 1999 shooting of Winchester police Sgt. Ricky L. Timbrook.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Kaine noted there had been no executions anywhere in the U.S. since Sept. 25, 2007, when the Supreme Court agreed to consider the constitutionality of lethal injection. Since then, about 30 scheduled executions had been put on hold in 13 states.

Kaine said he was temporarily stopping all executions until the Supreme Court ruled on the issue, "respecting the national legal consensus that no execution go forward until that time."