Now that state appeals have run out, Kentucky Death Row inmate Thomas Clyde Bowling has asked a federal judge to stop his execution, citing a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Bowling asked U.S. District Judge Jennifer Coffman for hearing in Lexington to determine if he's mentally retarded. Prosecutors argued in court filings last week that because Bowling has raised the issue in other appeals and lost, he's barred from bringing it up again. There is no timetable for Coffman to make a decision.
Bowling, who was originally scheduled for execution in November 2004 for the 1990 slayings of Lexington residents Eddie and Tina Earley, filed a petition for the hearing in December citing a 2002 Supreme Court ruling that bars executions for the mentally retarded.

The high court did not lay out requirements for making that determination, leaving it to states to establish the procedures. The Kentucky Supreme Court turned down Bowling's mental retardation claim in March, saying he cannot make the claim since it was not brought up at his trial. Assistant public advocate David Barron argued that Bowling, 53, should be allowed to raise the issue.

"If you're mentally retarded, you're always mentally retarded," Barron said. "That's a condition for life."

Bowling's attorneys said they also hope that a U.S. Supreme Court decision to hear a challenge to lethal injection by a Florida inmate will spare Bowling's life. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Jan. 25 to hear the case brought by Florida Death Row inmate Clarence Hill and has halted three executions since then.