JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court has given attorneys for a death row inmate more time to file briefs supporting Charles Ray Crawford's appeal of a 1994 rape conviction.
In refusing to set an execution date for Crawford in March in a separate capital murder case, the Supreme Court said it would resolve the appeal of previous rape conviction first. That conviction was cited as an aggravating factor by prosecutors in justifying the death sentence Crawford received in 1994 in the slaying of a junior college student.
Crawford's lawyers have until June 25 to file arguments. Prosecutors will have 30 days to respond after Crawford's lawyers file.
If the Supreme Court upholds Crawford's conviction in the earlier case, Attorney General Jim Hood could again petition the court to set an execution date.
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