Latest news, weather and high school sports for Albany and Southwest Georgia

ATLANTA (AP) -- A death row inmate convicted of the 1988 murder of a preschool fitness instructor is set to be executed.

Emmanuel Hammond is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection Tuesday at the state prison in Jackson. The 45-year-old's attorneys are filing state and federal appeals to try to delay the execution.

Hammond was convicted of murdering Julie Love, a 27-year-old who was abducted in north Atlanta after her car ran out of gas.

Prosecutors say Love was beaten and raped before Hammond took her into the woods, shot her to death and dumped her body into a trash pile.

Investigators didn't find her body until August 1989, when Hammond's girlfriend told police he was responsible for her disappearance.

Original:

A judge rejected an attempt to delay a Georgia death row inmate's execution after his attorneys raised questions about the supply of a lethal injection drug.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson rejected a claim on Monday by attorneys for Emmanuel Hammond that Georgia's supply of sodium thiopental could be substandard.

Hammond's attorney, Brian Mendelsohn, said he wanted more time to look at the expiration dates of the drug, which is in short supply. Prison officials have said Georgia has an adequate supply of the drugs.

Defense attorneys say Georgia officials released documents that show the drugs could come from a London-based firm and need more investigation.

State attorneys called the lawsuit a red herring and said it should be thrown out.

Hammond is set to die, Tuesday January 25th at  7pm, for the 1988 abduction and murder of Julie Love, a 27-year-old preschool fitness instructor.

Do you think this lawsuit is just something to prolong the execution of Emmanuel Hammond or do you think it is legitimate and should be looked into further?

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)