'Tonight, Justice Will Finally Be Served'

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) - Attorneys for convicted killer James Harvey
Callahan await word from the U.S. Supreme Court on a bid to halt
his execution, which is set for 6 p.m. tonight for the 1982
kidnapping, rape and murder of a Jacksonville woman.

Almost a year ago, the high court granted a reprieve only an
hour before his scheduled execution. But state prosecutors contend
Callahan's appeals have been exhausted after almost 26 years on
Alabama's death row.

Callahan, now 62, was twice convicted for the Feb. 3, 1982,
slaying of Rebecca Suzanne Howell, a 26-year-old Jacksonville State
University student abducted from a coin-operated laundry.

Howell's mother, Beth Coheley of Ohatchee, said the years of
appeals and delays have punished her family, particularly when
Callahan's execution was halted last January.

On Tuesday, the Alabama Supreme Court denied Callahan's bid for
a stay of execution.

This afternoon, Govenor Bob Riley announced he would not stop the executon either. "Tonight, justice will finally be served," Riley said. "I see no reason to overturn the sentence imposed and, barring a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, I will not intervene in this scheduled execution.”

Callahan is one of five inmates set for lethal injection in the
first five months of this year.
Currently, Alabama has 206 death row inmates, including four
women.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)