
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 16, 1995                   TAG: 9509180054
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

STOCKTON EXECUTION STAY DENIED

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday denied an appeal from death row inmate Dennis Stockton to have his execution postponed.

Stockton, 55, is scheduled to be executed Sept. 27.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Donald R. Curry said the Virginia attorney general's office asked Chief Justice William Rehnquist to either set the stay aside or hear the appeal on an expedited basis.

Stockton earlier was granted a stay of execution from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond so the Supreme Court could hear the case.

``Since [the U.S. Supreme Court] has decided the case, it's really not an issue now,'' Curry said.

Stockton's lawyers could not be reached for comment Friday.

Stockton was convicted of the 1983 murder-for-hire of Kenneth W. Arnder in Patrick County. He repeatedly has proclaimed his innocence.

- Associated Press

by CNB