Foster Gets Reprieve

By: Associated Press

Updated: Tue 9:35 AM, Jan 07, 2003

Death Penalty

Gov. Ronnie Musgrove issued a temporary reprieve to death row inmate Ron Chris Foster Monday.

Foster, 30, was scheduled to be executed Wednesday at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman for the 1989 Lowndes County killing of convenience store clerk George Shelton.

The governor said the reprieve would last until the constitutional questions about Foster's age and mental ability were addressed by the U.S. and Mississippi Supreme Courts.

Foster was convicted and sentenced to death by a Lauderdale County jury on a change of venue.

Musgrove denied clemency in two executions last year, but has said Foster's case was different because of the age and mental retardation issues being raised by the inmate's attorneys.

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