Crime: Alabama halts execution of man who killed preacher's wife for bizarre reason

Alabama's execution of a man convicted in a 1998 murder-for-hire killing of a preacher's wife was called off before the midnight deadline on Thursday because state officials couldn't find a suitable vein for lethal injection.

Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said staff at the prison tried for an hour to get the two required intravenous lines connected to Kenneth Eugene Smith.

One line was established, but attempts with a second line were unsuccessful after trying several locations on the 57-year-old's body. Officials then tried a central line, which involves a catheter placed into a large vein.

Missouri death row inmate's execution can proceed after court rejects racial bias claim

The execution of Kevin Johnson can move forward Tuesday after Missouri's highest court rejected a claim that the case was tainted by racial bias and determined it would not be successful in legal challenges. Special prosecutor Edward Keenan had argued that the state's initial handling of Kevin Johnson's case was rife with "racist prosecution techniques" that played into his conviction and death sentence in the 2005 killing of a Missouri police officer. Johnson was 19 at the time of the arrest.

TEXAS MAN, WHO KILLED PREGNANT EX-GIRLFRIEND AND HER 7-YEAR-OLD SON, IS EXECUTED AFTER SAYING LAST WORDS

"We were not able to have time to complete that, so we called off the execution," Hamm said.

Because the death warrant expired at midnight, the state must go back to court to seek a new execution date.

© (Alabama Department of Corrections via AP). This undated photo provided by Alabama Department of Corrections shows inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was convicted in a 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher’s wife. (Alabama Department of Corrections via AP)

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

It is the second execution since September that the state has canceled due to difficulties with establishing an IV line ahead of a deadline.

A court denied a stay for a death row inmate whose teen daughter won't be allowed to witness his execution, set for today

The Missouri Supreme Court has denied a death row inmate's request for a stay of his execution after hearing arguments that racial discrimination played a role in his prosecution for the murder of a police officer. With Kevin Johnson set to be executed Tuesday, he will appeal to the United States Supreme Court, his attorneys said late Monday. In a separate proceeding, Johnson’s 19-year-old daughter had failed this month to get a federal court to prevent the state from executing Johnson unless she was permitted to attend as a witness; Missouri law bars people younger than 21 from witnessing the proceeding.

The Supreme Court had cleared the way from Smith's execution, lifting a stay issued by the 11th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals earlier in the evening.

The postponement came after Smith's final appeals focused on problems with intravenous lines at Alabama's last two scheduled lethal injections.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey blamed Smith’s last-minute appeals for the execution not going forward as scheduled.

"Kenneth Eugene Smith chose $1,000 over the life of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, and he was guilty, no question about it. Some three decades ago, a promise was made to Elizabeth’s family that justice would be served through a lawfully imposed death sentence," Ivey said. "Although that justice could not be carried out tonight because of last minute legal attempts to delay or cancel the execution, attempting it was the right thing to do."

The Supreme Court denied Smith's request to review the constitutionality of his death sentence after Alabama-based nonprofit the Equal Justice Initiative said he stands to become the first state prisoner sentenced by judicial override to be executed since the practice was abolished in 2017.

Alabama won't lethally inject death row inmate - but may use fatal dose of nitrogen instead

Alabama failed its first attempt to lethally inject Miller on Sept. 22. Now it can only use nitrogen to execute him.In a Monday court filing, attorneys for Miller and the state agreed that future attempts to execute Miller can only be by nitrogen hypoxia, a still unused method for which Alabama does not yet have a protocol.

© AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, FileY The Supreme Court of the United States AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, FileY

TEXAS INMATE CONVICTED OF KILLING HIS PREGNANT EX-GIRLFRIEND AND 7-YEAR-OLD SEEKS TO STOP EXECUTION

In the hours before the execution was scheduled to be carried out, the prison system said Smith visited with his attorney and family members, ate cheese curls and drank water.

Prosecutors said the death row inmate was one of two men who were each paid $1,000 to kill Elizabeth Sennett on behalf of her husband, Charles Sennet Sr., who wanted to collect on insurance. Sennett was found dead in her Colbert County home on March 18, 1988, and the coroner testified that the 45-year-old had been stabbed eight times in the chest and once on each side of the neck.

Her husband killed himself when the murder investigation focused on him as a suspect.

John Forrest Parker, the other man convicted in the slaying, was executed in 2010.

© REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage FILE: Alabama Governor Kay Ivey speaks at the opening of a Mercedes-Benz electric vehicle Battery Factory, in Woodstock, Alabama, U.S., March 15, 2022. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

According to appellate court documents, Smith told police that it was "agreed for John and I to do the murder" and that he took items from the house to make it look like a burglary.

Documents showed Smith’s defense at trial said he participated in the attack, but that he did not intend to kill Sennett.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.