Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court delayed a scheduled Mississippi execution in a move that may mean a nationwide halt to the death penalty while the justices assess the lethal injection method used in dozens of states.

The court today granted a stay of execution to Earl Wesley Berry, who had been scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Mississippi time for the 1987 kidnapping and murder of a woman near Houston, Mississippi. The court acted over the dissents of Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito.

Courts and state officials have stayed more than a dozen executions since Sept. 25, when the Supreme Court agreed to consider lethal injections. The justices haven't directly imposed a nationwide moratorium, instead handling inmate appeals on a case-by-case basis. They previously blocked executions in Texas and Virginia.

The Mississippi case presented perhaps the best chance for prosecutors seeking to proceed with some lethal injections. Berry, who has been on death row since 1988, didn't challenge the method of his execution until this month.

The Mississippi Supreme Court and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to block the execution. The U.S. Supreme Court just yesterday declined to stay the execution as part of Berry's appeal of the state court ruling. The justices said then that they had no jurisdiction because the Mississippi court ruling centered on state law.

Today's action came as part of Berry's appeal of the 5th Circuit's ruling, which said the request for a stay was late as a matter of federal law.

The justices will hear arguments next year on an appeal by two Kentucky death row inmates who say the state's lethal injection procedures violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The inmates, pointing to botched executions in Ohio and Florida, contend they might be subjected to unnecessary suffering and that Kentucky must consider more humane alternatives. The court is scheduled to resolve that case by July.

The case acted on today is Berry v. Epps, 07-7348 and 07A367.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 30, 2007 18:47 EDT