The attorneys for condemned Idaho inmate Paul Ezra Rhoades have filed an emergency appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court in hopes of staving off the execution set for Friday morning. In a 33-page brief to the court, Oliver Loewy and the other attorneys with the Federal Defenders of Idaho reiterated Rhoades' contention that Idaho's new lethal injection protocol is likely to be botched, causing him to suffer excruciating pain in violation of the 8th Amendment. Idaho Department of Correction director Brent Reinke says he's confident Idaho will carry out the task without any cruel or unusual punishment to Rhodes.  As the clock ticks closer to Friday, Reinke says the other death row inmates are also watching and waiting. The ACLU of Idaho will be among those protesting the execution Friday morning.The organization is asking that others who are against the death penalty join them. They will gather at the prison site at 6:45 a.m. Friday.

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The ACLU will provide signs for those who attend.  Meanwhile, the Idaho Department of Correction is making its final preparations for the execution.  IDOC Director Brent Reinke says Rhoades has regular visitations with his mother on a daily basis now and over the course of the last week or so. He's watching some television. He reads some. He does a little bit of art work. Reinke says Rhoades is spending a lot of time with his spiritual advisor as well as his attorney.   Reinke says "There's an anxiousness on death row.”  The inmates on death row are preparing a card to be signed by them and sent to Rhoades.  Rhoades' execution is scheduled to happen shortly after 8 a.m. Friday at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in south Boise.

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