Supreme Court declines to intervene on stay of execution for Virginia inmate

As reported here in the Washington Post and here by the AP, the U.S. Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to remove the stay of execution ordered by Chief Judge Samuel Wilson of the W.D. Va. and affirmed by the Fourth Circuit in the case of Commonwealth v. Percy Walton, who was scheduled to be put to death Wednesday night. Virginia Attorney General Kilgore had asked the Supreme Court to lift the stay, arguing that "'Walton's newly-contrived, frivolous claim of mental retardation' was the first such claim and came just five days before his scheduled execution." The Post quoted Prince William County Commonwealth's attorney Paul Ebert as saying that "You're going to see this raised time and time again."