Appeals court stays execution of Alabama death row inmate

April 11 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court upheld a lower court's stay of execution for Alabama death row inmate Christopher Price hours before he was scheduled to die Wednesday.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling after the Alabama Attorney General's Office appealed U.S. District Court Judge Kristi DuBose's stay of execution. DuBose delayed the execution for 60 days after Price's lawyers argued that Alabama's three-drug lethal injection protocol was likely to cause severe pain.

Alabama uses midazolam, a sedative, in its lethal injection protocol. Critics say the drug does not render a person sufficiently unconscious to prevent them from feeling the pain caused by the other two drugs in the cocktail.

Price, 46, was sentenced to death row for the 1991 robbery and murder of Bill Lynn.