RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – A federal judge will hold a hearing early next month to consider a Virginia death row inmate’s request to halt his upcoming execution.A hearing will be held in Ricky Gray’s case at the federal court in Richmond on Jan. 3.Gray’s attorneys filed a complaint last week asking the court to block Virginia prison officials from executing him using lethal injection drugs from a secret compounding pharmacy. Gray’s attorneys say the state risks”chemically torturing” the man.Gray’s attorneys say his Jan. 18 execution should be put on hold, pending the court’s consideration of his complaint.Gray was convicted of killing Bryan and Kathryn Harvey and their 9-year-old and 4-year-old daughters at their Richmond home on New Year’s Day 2006.
