Court Stops Va. Execution

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday halted Virginia's planned execution of a man who murdered a co-worker.

Virginia had prepared to execute Christopher Scott Emmett, 36, even as several other states stopped executions after the high court agreed to review claims that the method of death is unconstitutionally cruel.

Emmett had been scheduled to be put to death Wednesday night at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va., for the 2001 bludgeoning murder of a co-worker, John Fenton Langley.

The stay granted by the court will last until a Richmond, Va.-based federal appeals court takes another look at the case. The justices did not comment further on their order.