Activists seek to delay execution

Death penalty opponents and the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada sent a letter to the state’s Board of Pardons requesting that it call off next week’s scheduled lethal injection of a man who has voluntarily given up his appeals.

The Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty and the ACLU said the execution of William Castillo should be delayed at least until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of lethal injections. The pardons board is composed of the governor, attorney general and the seven justices of Nevada’s Supreme Court.

State prison officials have said that there was no reason to delay the execution because the prisoner has volunteered to die. A spokesman for the governor had no immediate comment.