COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to stop the execution of a death row inmate who strangled an elderly neighbor in 1994 and who last week tried to kill himself by overdosing on pills.
Lawrence Reynolds Jr., 43, had asked the high court for a delay while he challenged Ohio's lethal injection procedure. The court refused without comment to intervene in Tuesday's execution.
Reynolds was convicted of killing Loretta Foster, a 67-year-old widow who baby-sat kids in her neighborhood and lived three doors from him in their Cuyahoga Falls neighborhood near Akron.
Reynolds was an out-of-work alcoholic with little money when he forced his way into Foster's house. Prosecutors say he strangled her with rope and left with $40 in cash and a blank check from her purse.
This is Ohio's third attempt to execute him.
Gov. Ted Strickland postponed his original execution date last fall while the state reviewed its execution method.
Then last week, just days before his next execution date, prison guards found Reynolds unconscious in his cell from a suicide attempt.
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