Judge Delays Electrocution of Bundy in Florida

A federal judge Tuesday refused to grant serial killer Theodore R. Bundy a lengthy reprieve, but blocked his electrocution scheduled for today for 24 hours to give him time to take his case to an appeals court in Atlanta.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge William Zloch delayed the execution until 7 a.m. Thursday, five hours before Bundy’s second death warrant for the murders of two Florida State University coeds would expire.

Bundy, a 39-year-old law school dropout, also was convicted of murdering a 12-year-old schoolgirl and has been linked by the FBI to as many as 36 other killings of young women and girls, mostly in the Northwest.

Zloch first rejected Bundy’s request for a six-month stay, then huddled with lawyers from both sides and granted the 24-hour delay so that Bundy’s legal team could take the case to the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court was expected to take up the case this morning.