LUCASVILLE — Minutes away from his execution Tuesday night, killer Jay D. Scott still hadn't eaten the two cheeseburgers, fries and a Pepsi he'd selected as his last meal.

        He'd already said goodbye to the family members who visited him throughout the morning and afternoon. He'd talked with his spiritual adviser. He had been offered a sedative to calm his nerves before he was to be tied to a gurney and wheeled into the death chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.

Scott

        All those preparations fell apart Tuesday night, 53 minutes before the state was to carry out its sentence of lethal injection at 9 p.m. The Ohio Supreme Court suspended Mr. Scott's execution indefinitely in a 6-0 decision, giving a Cleveland appellate court until Friday to decide a last-minute appeal.

        A small knot of protesters sang, chanted and offered prayers outside the prison in hopes the execution would be blocked. Inside, prison officials said Mr. Scott would be moved to a secure area of Lucasville prison, outside its death house, to spend the night.

        Officials were unable to say just what would happen to Mr. Scott next. It was assumed Tuesday night that he would be moved back to his death row cell in Mansfield, but nobody knew when that would happen.

        Mr. Scott was convicted of murdering delicatessen owner Vinnie Prince, 74, of Cleveland, during a 1983 robbery.

Helen Scott (center) hugs relatives in Cleveland after hearing Tuesday night that her uncle, convicted killer Jay D. Scott, would not be executed. (Associated Press photo) | ZOOM |

        John Pyle, one of Mr. Scott's attorneys, said his client expressed some relief that his execution would be stayed after he'd been informed.

        “He took a sigh, a deep breath and said "Thank you,'” Mr. Pyle said.

        Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery issued a statement in which she said the latest delay threatens to erode the public's trust in the integrity of the state's justice system.

        “We regret that the court permitted a last-minute motion that could have been decided months ago to once again delay the system,” Ms. Montgomery said.

        As prison officials stand down from the execution, all eyes turn once again to the courts to see what happens next. The Ohio appellate court has until Friday to render a decision.

        The court wanted more time to consider arguments that the execution should not go forward because Mr. Scott is a diagnosed schizophrenic.

        Tuesday's stay capped a day in which Mr. Scott was thought to be living his final moments.

        Prison officials said he spent what was reportedly his last night watching television and talking with a six-member team of guards and prison officials who remained by his side throughout his brief stay at the Lucasville death house. Prisons spokesman Joe Andrews called the conversations “idle talk” that sometimes touched upon events in his childhood.

        Mr. Scott met individually with four members of his family beginning at 10:30 a.m.

        A phone line between the governor's office and the prison was kept open. Gov. Bob Taft had already denied clemency and a seven-day reprieve requested to give the courts more time to evaluate Mr. Scott's mental condition.

        A Cincinnati religious group, the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, sent about 20 protesters.

        “When they say at the end that this was done in the name of the people, I want them to know I'm not one of those people,” said Sister Alice Gerdeman, a leader of the Cincinnati faction.

        Similar protests and vigils sponsored by Ohioans to Stop Executions took place throughout the state, including a prayer vigil at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Cincinnati.

        That gathering erupted into applause and the singing of “Amazing Grace” when the three dozen peopled gathered learned at about 8:45 p.m. that the scheduled execution had been delayed.

        Canon Linda Bartholmew of the Christ Church told the group to never underestimate “the power of prayer.”

       William A. Weathers contributed to this story.
       
       

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