(AP) – Attorneys for Missouri death row inmate Michael Taylor continue the effort to spare his life, even as a federal judge has turned down some of his requests for a stay of execution.

U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips on Monday refused to halt the execution based on separate claims that Missouri’s one-drug execution method could cause a painful death, and that the state in three recent executions put inmates to death while court cases were still pending. Taylor’s attorney, John Simon, appealed to a federal appeals court.

Phillips is still considering another stay request, a claim that Taylor had an ineffective attorney at his original trial.

Taylor faces execution at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for abducting, raping and killing a 15-year-old Kansas City girl in 1989.