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Convicted murderer granted stay of execution

Prosecutors will ask the nation’s highest court to allow a convicted murderer’s execution to go forward. 

Edward Schad was scheduled to be put to death at the state prison in Florence on Wednesday. He’s on death row for the murder of 74-year-old Leroy Grove of Bisbee in August 1978.

Friday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request from Schad’s attorneys for a stay of the scheduled execution. His lawyers argue a federal judge needs more time to decide whether Schad was denied proper legal representation after he was convicted.

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office opposed the request. Now, prosecutors will go to the U.S. Supreme Court to have the appeals court ruling reversed and allow the execution to go forward.