Judge clears way for Calif. execution

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal judge cleared the way Friday for California's first execution since 2006 after the state revised its lethal injection procedures.

Corrections officials scheduled the execution of Albert Greenwood Brown for next Wednesday after U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel said it could move ahead.

In his ruling, he cited the state's "extensive efforts to address the court's concerns" that the previous lethal injection procedure was unconstitutional.

The judge also said a 2008 Supreme Court ruling upholding Kentucky's lethal injection process made it more difficult for condemned inmates to delay their executions through the courts.

If Brown's appeals to other courts fail, the convicted rapist and killer will be the first inmate executed in California since January 2006, when Fogel placed a de facto moratorium on capital punishment in California and ordered prison officials to overhaul the process.

The attorney general's office argued this week that the state has complied with Fogel's order by building a new death chamber at San Quentin State Prison, revising its training regimen and adopting new lethal injection regulations.