UPDATE 2-U.S. appeals court stays Alabama execution of man convicted of 1991 killing

A U.S. appeals court temporarily halted the execution in Alabama on Thursday of a man convicted of killing a minister and wounding his wife with a sword and dagger while robbing their home three days before Christmas 1991. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a delay of 60 days that a district judge in Mobile, Alabama, had granted in the case of Christopher Price, 46, earlier on Thursday.

On Thursday night, the Alabama Attorney General's Office filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to overturn the stay of execution. Price was convicted and sentenced to death in 1993 in the killing of William Lynn, a minister, in his home in Bazemore, Alabama, on Dec. 22, 1991.

Price's attorneys argued that lethal injections had been botched in the past, causing a painful death and that execution by nitrogen hypoxia was a better alternative. The appeals court, in a three-page ruling, cited questions of jurisdiction between itself and the district judge that have emerged in legal arguments filed by lawyers in the case.

"In light of the jurisdictional questions raised by the parties' motions, we stay Price's execution until further notice of this court," the court ruled. CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

Lynn was assembling Christmas presents for his grandchildren after he and his wife, Bessie, returned home from church when two men shut off electricity in the home and attacked the couple with a sword and dagger, according to court documents. Lynn died of his injuries, while his wife survived wounds to her head, hands and chest.

Price was captured seven days later and admitted that he took part in the robbery, but said he did not hurt the couple, according to court documents. Kelvin Coleman, who was accused of being Price's accomplice, pleaded guilty to murder and robbery and is serving a life sentence without parole, authorities said.

Price's attorneys have argued the three-drug cocktail to be used in the execution is inhumane and he should be executed by nitrogen hypoxia, a "virtually painless" method, a court brief showed. On Thursday, Chief U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose granted Price's attorneys the 60-day stay and gave the state until May 10 to respond to their arguments that the three-drug protocol risked causing Price significant pain and that nitrogen hypnoxia would reduce that risk.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Constitution did not guarantee a prisoner sentenced to capital punishment "a painless death," paving the way for the execution of convicted murderer Russell Bucklew, who sought to die by lethal gas rather than lethal injection because of a rare medical condition. Six executions in the United States scheduled during the first three months of 2019 have been stayed or rescheduled. (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Peter Cooney)