Mississippi sets execution date for 21-year death row inmate

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi has set an execution date for an inmate who has been on death row for 21 years after his appeals and legal challenges were unsuccessful. The Mississippi Supreme Court granted a motion from the state Thursday in the case of Thomas Edwin Loden Jr., a former U.S. Marine Corps recruiter who was convicted in the 2000 rape and killing of a 16-year-old waitress. The execution date is Dec. 14. Loden’s attorney objected, citing his ongoing challenge to the state’s lethal injection protocol. But the court ruled that Loden has exhausted his legal options to try to avoid being put to death.