By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – Darrell Grayson faces execution by lethal injection this evening for the December 1980 killing of an 86-year-old widow in her Montevallo home. Governor Bob Riley has refused to delay the execution, amid calls for D-N-A testing.
Grayson's execution for the death of Annie Laura Orr is set for 6 p.m. Thursday at Holman prison near Atmore.
Supporters of the 46-year-old Grayson, who was 19 at the time of the crime, rallied in Montgomery yesterday, urging Riley to intervene in order for D-N-A tests to determine if Grayson raped the elderly woman who was attacked in her residence after midnight on Christmas Eve.
Riley, in a statement today, refused requests to intervene. He said the elderly victim died a ''horrifying death'' and that Grayson's own testimony and ''the overwhelming physical evidence left a jury no doubt he perpetrated a cruel and monstrous crime upon a helpless elderly woman.''
Grayson's attorneys, meanwhile, await rulings from both the Alabama Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court on their bids to stop the execution.
Grayson had a co-defendant, Victor Kennedy, who was also convicted of capital murder and was executed in 1999.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)