LONE JUSTICE ORDERS STAY OF INMATE'S DEATH

TAMMS, Ill. -- In an unusual solo motion, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Moses Harrison II late Monday ordered a stay of the execution of Andrew Kokoraleis pending a decision on the case by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Although court officials declined to comment on whether the order would force a postponement of the execution, scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, Kokoraleis' lawyer Alan Freedman said the U.S. Supreme Court will no longer expedite the case because a stay is pending at the state level.

Unless the U.S. Supreme Court does rule or Harrison's colleagues on the state court overturn him, the execution will not go on, Freedman said. The full court rejected an appeal by Kokoraleis last week, but Harrison dissented and called for a moratorium on all executions in Illinois.

"The question is whether the full (state) court can overturn it, and we don't believe they can," Freedman said.

If the execution is delayed, it would be the third consecutive execution attempt halted by legal appeals. Last month, two men were freed from death row, and one of them was later exonerated of the killing for which he was to be executed.

On Monday, preparations continued at Tamms Correctional Center for the execution of Kokoraleis by lethal injection. Kokoraleis, who was convicted in the 1982 ritual mutilation killing of Lorraine Borowski in the west Chicago suburb of Elmhurst, was to be transported to the Tamms prison today from Pontiac Correctional Center.

Prison authorities were prepared to deal with protesters outside during the execution.

The 35-year-old Kokoraleis would become the first inmate executed in the state's new death chamber at Tamms and the 12th person executed in Illinois since it reinstated capital punishment in 1977.

Kokoraleis' attorneys argued that two co-defendants originally claimed another man was present at the murders but changed their stories to blame Kokoraleis in fear of what the other man might do to them.

There is a lot of public outcry for a moratorium. The Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty says it doesn't make sense to go ahead with an execution while a moratorium proposal is pending in the Illinois Legislature.

When Gov. George Ryan visited Murphysboro High School recently to discuss high school technology programs, he was greeted outside by a group of death penalty protesters who demanded that the governor invoke a moratorium on executions in Illinois.

Ryan has said he supports the death penalty. He said, however, he would support a review of the death penalty process but not a moratorium.

Reprieves were granted two inmates last fall, including Anthony Porter, who has since been released from prison after spending 17 years on death's row. Porter, who was to have been executed at Tamms last September, was granted a reprieve by the Illinois Supreme Court the day before he was scheduled to die. Porter was released from prison last month when Alstory Simon of Milwaukee, Wis., confessed to killing the two people Porter had been charged with murdering in 1982.

Death penalty cases have become a hot issue in Illinois since Porter's release. A total of 10 people have had their convictions thrown out after serving time on death row since capital punishment was reinstated in 1977. Following Porter's release, Illinois death penalty opponents have renewed efforts to postpone pending executions and place a moratorium on them.

Tamms prison is the new site for executions in Illinois. The prison doesn't hold death-row inmates. Instead, inmates awaiting death are housed at Menard or Pontiac correctional centers until a couple of days before their executions. They are then moved to Tamms, which includes special rooms for family, friends and attorneys.

Illinois prisoners previously were executed at Stateville Corrections Center near Joliet.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.