LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska Supreme Court has set an execution date for death-row inmate Michael Ryan, who was condemned to die for a 1985 murder at a farm near Rulo.
The court scheduled the execution for March 6.
Ryan was convicted of torturing and killing James Thimm at his compound. His execution would be the first in Nebraska since 1997, and its first by lethal injection.
The order came two days after Attorney General Jon Bruning’s office filed documents with the high court saying a legal challenge by Ryan’s lawyer was frivolous and irrelevant. Ryan’s lawyer had challenged the state’s method of obtaining one of three drugs needed to carry out the sentence.
Attorney General Jon Bruning said in a statement Wednesday that officials will now prepare to carry out the sentence.