Inmate's Attorneys Fight Against Execution

POSTED: 3:51 pm EST December 11, 2006

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The convicted killer of a Miami topless club manager has turned to an appeals court in Atlanta and the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to stop his scheduled execution Wednesday.

Angel Nieves Diaz, 55, whose state appeals were denied Friday, turned to the federal courts Saturday.

Nieves' attorney, Suzanne Myers Keffer, said Monday she filed a request from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking permission to file another appeal and with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a stay of execution. Neither had ruled by midday Monday.The new appeals challenge Florida's method of lethal injection. Similar arguments were made earlier this year by three other death row inmates who all lost their appeals and were executed.

Each has argued that Florida's three-chemical method is unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment because it results in extreme pain that an inmate cannot express because one of the drugs is a paralyzing agent.