Execution of Albert Greenwood Brown, Calif. Killer, Delayed by Federal Judge

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) Two days before death row inmate Albert Greenwood Brown was to be put to death by lethal injection, a federal judge halted his execution, which would have been California's first execution in nearly five years.

Brown was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to death for abducting, raping and killing 15-year-old Susan Jordan on Oct. 28, 1980. Her murder case generated a flurry of media attention in Riverside, a city located about 60 east of Los Angeles, in part because of Brown's extensive legal maneuvers to avoid the death penalty.

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel reportedly suspended Brown's execution after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered him to apply different legal standards than the ones he used when approving Brown's execution just last week.

Fogel claimed he blocked the execution scheduled for 9:00 p.m. Thursday because he didn't have sufficient time "to render a reasoned decision and permit adequate appellate review."

Brown's lawyers "raised substantial questions of fact as to whether at least some of the deficiencies" in California's lethal injection process that prompted Fogel to delay California executions in 2006 still remained, according to the judge.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office said an appeal would be filed Wednesday.

However, time is a major concern because of a nationwide shortage of an integral drug used in executions.

According to state officials, California's entire stock of sodium thiopental expires Friday, and no executions can be carried out until they receive a new shipment early next year.

In his nine-page decision Tuesday, Fogel indicated he was never notified by the attorney general's office of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's shortage of sodium thiopental, which is used to sedate an inmate before two other fatal drugs are injected.

Susan Jordan's mother is still reminded of the chilling phone call she received from the killer, Brown, almost three decades ago, that led to the discovery of her daughter's body.

"I remember her pleading with him and the look of terror on her face," said Susan's younger brother, James Jordan, who was 7-years-old at the time. Karen Brown, Jordan's sister, was planning to witness the execution. Her husband said she was "pretty upset" with Fogel's ruling.

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