Georgia Temporarily Halts Execution

Updated at 1:50 p.m.

With about eight hours to spare before a man convicted of killing a convenience store clerk was to be put to death Wednesday, the state’s highest court stepped in and temporarily halted the scheduled execution.

Ray Jefferson Cromartie, 52, was to receive a lethal injection at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the state prison in Jackson. But the Georgia Supreme Court issued a stay of execution, saying “it appears that the pending execution order may be void.”