FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Four men convicted of beating and killing a businessman during a robbery in the victim's home in 1981 are scheduled for execution Friday, though attorneys plan to seek a delay in federal courts.
Marshall Carlisle of Fayetteville, an attorney for one of the men, said all four have exhausted their appeals in the state courts.
He said he would file the appeal in federal court today or Tuesday.
'We have never been in the federal courts in this case,' he said.
The crime occurred Jan. 8, 1981, when four men wearing ski masks forced their way into the house of Donald Lehman, 47, a building contractor. They beat Lehman with a chain, shot him three times with a .25-caliber pistol in front of his wife and daughter, and stole $1,200 and several guns.
Carlisle represents James William Holmes, 28, of Rogers. The other men are Hoyt Franklin Clines, 28, of Rogers; Michael Orndorff, 25, of Gravette, and Darrell V. Richley, 33, of Fayetteville.
The Arkansas Supreme Court twice has stayed their executions. But the court denieda petition for a review May 29 and set the execution date.
Carlisle said the primary issue in the appeal will be the exclusion from the jury of people who said they would not be willing to sentence anyone to death. A secondary issue will be whether the men should have been granted separate trials.
