Supreme Court Grants Execution Stay for Arizona Inmate

PHOENIX — The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a stay of execution for an Arizona inmate scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday.

The court granted the stay for Daniel Wayne Cook on Monday until it can consider his lawyers' argument that he had ineffective counsel during his post-conviction proceedings.

If the court disagrees with Cook's attorneys, he still could be executed at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Cook's death warrant expires at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Defense attorney Robin Konrad says she's "very happy" with the decision and hopes the court "considers this issue seriously."

Cook was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the gruesome July 1987 killings of 16-year-old Kevin Swaney, and 26-year-old Carlos Cruz-Ramos in Lake Havasu City.