LITTLE ROCK, AR - A federal judge issued an order Monday staying the execution of a convicted killer scheduled to be put to death the day after the July Fourth holiday.

Don Davis, 43, who received a death sentence for the 1990 killing of Jane Daniels of Rogers, joined a lawsuit filed by another death row inmate, Terrick Nooner. The suit claims that Arkansas' lethal injection protocol may put a condemned inmate at risk for cruel and unusual punishment.

"The Court finds that Davis has shown that he is personally under a threat of irreparable harm," U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright wrote in her order. "If Davis remains or becomes conscious during the execution, he will suffer intense pain that will never be rectified."

Gov. Mike Huckabee set a July 5 execution date for Davis. Huckabee was traveling in Asia and couldn't immediately be reached for comment Monday. Matt DeCample, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said officials were discussing whether to appeal Wright's decision. He declined further comment.

"If a stay is granted and Davis's allegations prove true, he and others will be spared subjection to an unconstitutional execution procedure, and the State's interest in enforcing death penalties in compliance with constitutional standards will be served," Wright wrote. "If, on the other hand, a stay is granted and Davis's allegations are without merit, the State can carry out Davis's execution without the specter that (Arkansas Department of Corrections') protocol carries an unreasonable risk of inflicting unnecessary pain."

In her order, Wright said an evidentiary hearing needs to be held on Davis' claims that the lethal injection protocol is unconstitutional. She stayed the execution until further notice.

In a filing last week, the state defended its means of executing condemned prisoners.

"The singular issue before the court is whether the procedure for execution will ensure that the condemned will be rendered unconscious prior to and throughout the period during which lethal drugs are injected into his bloodstream so that he will be prevented from perceiving pain during his execution," Assistant Attorney General Joseph Svoboda said in a filing Thursday in U.S. District Court.

The state also noted that Arkansas uses the same three chemicals _ sodium pentothal, panchromium bromide and potassium chloride _ as other death penalty states that have withstood constitutional challenges.

Betsey Wright of Rogers, an anti-death penalty advocate and a friend of Davis, said the decision was just a postponement of the inevitable. She said she had met with Davis earlier Monday before the order was issued.

"He was prepared to go ahead," she said. "He really feels that being executed will make him free, and he wants to be free. I think he too regrets that he will have to prepare himself again but he also feels that he owes this to others who come behind him."