MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Latest on a scheduled execution in Alabama (all times local):

3:15 p.m.

A federal judge has halted the execution of an Alabama inmate just hours before he was to be put to death.

Chief U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins on Thursday stayed the execution of 56-year-old Jeffery Lynn Borden. The reprieve came about four hours before Borden was set to be given a lethal injection at a southwest Alabama prison.

Watkins noted that the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals this month ordered additional proceedings in Borden's challenge to the humaneness of the state's lethal injection process.

The Alabama attorney general's office said it would not appeal the stay. The attorney general said there was "insufficient time to lift the stay" before the death warrant expired at midnight

Borden was convicted of killing his estranged wife, Cheryl Borden, and her father, Roland Harris, during a 1993 Christmas Eve gathering.

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12:05 p.m.

Alabama says the execution of a state inmate should be allowed to go forward.

The state attorney general's office on Thursday asked a judge to reject 56-year-old Jeffery Lynn Borden's request for a stay.

Borden is set to receive a lethal injection Thursday evening at a south Alabama prison. Borden was convicted of killing his estranged wife, Cheryl Borden, and her father, Roland Harris, during a 1993 Christmas Eve gathering.

In the court filing, the state attorneys argued that the surviving family members had waited long enough for the sentence to be carried out.

Alabama attorneys noted the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday lifted an appellate court injunction blocking Borden's execution.

They said Borden was now seeking a "second bite at the apple."

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8:45 a.m.

An Alabama inmate is asking a judge to halt his upcoming execution.

Lawyers for 56-year-old Jeffery Lynn Borden on Thursday morning filed an emergency motion with the federal court in Montgomery, Alabama.

His attorneys said the state should not be allowed to execute Borden when the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this month ordered more hearings in his ongoing challenge to the humaneness of the state's lethal injection process.

Borden is set to receive a lethal injection Thursday evening at a south Alabama prison. Borden was convicted of killing his estranged wife, Cheryl Borden, and her father, Roland Harris, in Jefferson County in 1993.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday lifted an appellate court injunction that had been blocking Borden's execution.

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5:49 a.m.

Alabama is scheduled to execute a man convicted of killing his estranged wife and father-in-law during a Christmas Eve gathering.

Jeffery Lynn Borden is set to receive a lethal injection Thursday at a south Alabama prison. Borden was convicted of killing his estranged wife, Cheryl Borden, and her father, Roland Harris, in Jefferson County in 1993.

Borden, who was separated from his wife, brought their children to the Christmas gathering after a visit. Prosecutors said he shot Cheryl Borden as she helped move the children's belongings and Harris as he ran for help.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday lifted an appellate court injunction that had been blocking Borden's execution.

News from © The Associated Press, 2017