JIM SALTER, Associated Press

BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Attorney General’s office is appealing a federal appeals court panel’s ruling that temporarily halted the execution of a condemned killer, a ruling that cited concerns about a rare medical condition that could cause pain and suffering during lethal injection.

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling Tuesday evening, halted the execution of Russell Bucklew. He is scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for killing a southeast Missouri man in 1996.

The office of Attorney General Chris Koster asked for a hearing before the full 8th Circuit.

It would be the first execution in the nation following a botched lethal injection last month in Oklahoma.