Late Monday afternoon a judge issued a temporary stay of execution for Warren Lee Hill.

Hill, who was sentenced to death for the 1990 beating death of a fellow inmate, was scheduled to be executed at the state prison in Jackson at 7 p.m. Monday.

His attorney, Brian Kammer, said he challenged the constitutionality of a new state law that shields from public view the identities of the lethal injection drug’s manufacturer. “If it’s a tainted batch of drug, we would have a claim that it caused a cruel and unusual execution.”

He said the Georgia Department of Corrections only announced last week that it would use a drug from a compounding pharmacy to execute Hill.

There have been problems with execution drugs obtained from compounding pharmacies.

Meanwhile, mental health advocates vow to continue efforts to change the death penalty law in Georgia to prevent the execution of people with intellectual disabilities

The execution of intellectually disabled offenders is prohibited by Georgia state law and a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

But proving mental disability in the state is where the problem lies say mental health and disability advocates including Rita Young of All About Developmental Disabilities. She said “Georgia requires the highest standard in the country. You must prove beyond a reasonable doubt, and that is the heaviest burden of proof of law.”

Warren Lee Hill has an IQ of just 70.

He has come within hours of death twice in the past year before scheduled executions were halted by last-minute court orders.

Contributors: Jeanne Bonner

Tags: death penalty, Warren Lee Hill, Leah Fleming