Alabama Inmate’s Execution Postponed

MONTGOMERY, Ala.(ASSOCIATED PRESS)- Alabama officials halt an execution of an inmate after he argues his veins are too damaged for lethal injection.

The execution was planned for Thursday night, but Alabama Corrections Commissioner, Jeff Dunn says the prison system stopped it around 11:30 Thursday night.

The reason was “out of an abundance of caution” after medical staff didn’t think they could connect the intravenous line by the time the death warrant expired.

Dunn says there wasn’t enough time to prepare the inmate before the death warrant expired at midnight.

In 2014, Hamm was diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma. Last week, the prison told the court they planned on using a vein in his leg or hip after a federal judge ruled Hamm had no accessible veins in his upper extremities.

No word on when the execution could happen.

Hamm was convicted in the 1987 killing of motel clerk Patrick Cunningham. Cunningham was shot once in the head while working an overnight shift at a Cullman, Alabama motel.

Doyle Lee Hamm