COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Ohio's request to put a condemned killer to death by refusing to overrule lower court rulings that put the execution on hold.

The court on today denied the state's appeal of decisions in inmate Charles Lorraine's case that said Ohio had strayed too far from its execution policies to be trusted to carry out the death sentence for now.

The office of Attorney General Mike DeWine had argued that minor deviations in policy don't mean the system is unconstitutional.

DeWine had said that without Supreme Court action, Ohio is in danger of having dozens of executions delayed on a case-by-case basis.