Thomas Clyde Bowling faces lethal injection for killing the owners of a dry-cleaning business in Lexington in 1990. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Bowling's appeal Oct. 4.

Bowling, 51, was sentenced in January 1991 to die for killing Eddie and Tina Earley, owners of the Earley Bird Cleaners, who were shot in their car outside their shop.

Fletcher, a physician who has recently received petitions from lawmakers and medical students objecting to the execution, issued a statement Tuesday saying he signed the warrant and was declining to answer questions.

The Rev. Pat Delahanty, associate director of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky, said Fletcher should not have signed Bowling's death warrant because he is medical doctor and took a Hippocratic oath.

Executive counsel John Roach issued a statement saying Fletcher is not violating the American Medical Association guidelines or ethical standards by signing the warrant.

Roach said the AMA prohibits physicians only from administering the lethal injection.

Bowling asked Fletcher to commute his sentence to life in prison, claiming he is mentally retarded and executing him would be illegal under Kentucky law and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Fletcher rejected that claim.