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Alabama inmate scheduled for execution files appeal

A 74-year-old Alabama inmate scheduled to be executed in November is asking an appellate court to review his claim that Alabama's lethal injection procedure is inhumane.

Lawyers for Thomas Arthur filed the appeal with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Arthur's attorneys argued a federal judge prematurely dismissed Arthur's challenge and had misapplied a requirement for inmates to name an alternate execution method. Arthur suggested a firing squad and another lethal injection drug.

Arthur is scheduled to be put to death Nov. 3 for the 1982 murder-for-hire of Muscle Shoals businessman Troy Wicker.

Arthur had been scheduled for execution on six previous occasions, but was given court-issued reprieves. Alabama asked for an expedited execution after the judge dismissed his lawsuit in July.

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