Arkansas Court Delays Execution

The state Supreme Court on Monday postponed the execution of murderer R. Gene Simmons, who had pleaded after his sentencing last month that there be no such delays.

The action came one week before Simmons, 47, was scheduled to receive a lethal injection for killing two people in Russellville during a 40-minute shooting rampage that left four others wounded on Dec. 28. It would have been the state’s first execution since 1964.

When he was sentenced on May 12, Simmons told Judge John S. Patterson he was ready to die, saying: “Let the torture and suffering in me end.”

He apparently hoped to avoid a July 18 trial for the deaths of 14 relatives, whose bodies were found on his isolated property in the Ozark Mountains north of Dover.

The 6-1 ruling Monday improves the possibility that Simmons will be tried in July because, even if the state Supreme Court lets his sentence stand after its review, Gov. Bill Clinton would set the next execution date and that process usually takes about 40 days.