The Wyoming Supreme Court halted the execution of Dale Wayne Eaton in a ruling on Friday.

The ruling, written by Chief Justice Barton Voigt, delayed Eaton's execution pending his application for appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A jury in March 2004 sentenced Eaton to die for the murder of 18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimmell, who disappeared in 1988 while driving from Colorado to Cody. Fishermen found her body floating in the North Platte River eight days later, but it was not until 2003 that prosecutors, with the help of DNA evidence, charged Eaton with her death.

Kimmell had been sexually assaulted, hit in the head and stabbed before being thrown from Government Bridge, off State Highway 220.

The Wyoming Supreme Court rejected Eaton's appeal in August and directed Natrona County District Court to set a new date for his execution. In October, Eaton's death was scheduled for "no later than December 19, 2008."

That wording required the Wyoming Supreme Court to vacate the execution warrant because a specific date was not set. In the same ruling, the court set an execution date of Dec. 19, then delayed the execution, as it did with the state's case against James Harlow in 2003.

Harlow is serving a life sentence after spending almost a decade on death row for killing a guard at the Wyoming State Penitentiary during an escape attempt.

"This Court believes that setting a new date of execution, rather than remanding to the district court to set a new date of execution, may help avoid some inherent delays in this case, as well as conserve resources of the courts and the parties," Voigt wrote.

The appeal options available are numerous.

Eaton's attorneys were also ordered to notify the Wyoming Supreme Court and prosecutors when they file their appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Eaton also has until May to file an appeal with the District Court on the grounds his constitutional rights were violated. An appeal on that basis would enter the federal court system.

The entire process could be complicated, with multiple filings proceeding through the legal system at the same time.

Mark Hopkinson, the last person executed in Wyoming, was put to death by lethal injection in 1992 after 13 years on death row. He is the only person to be executed in the state since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

News Tracker

Last we knew: A Natrona County district judge set Dale Wayne Eaton's execution for "no later than December 19, 2008."

The latest: The Wyoming Supreme Court vacated the district judge's warrant, set a firm date of Dec. 19 and then delayed the execution pending an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

What's next: Several more years of appeals on Eaton's behalf are expected.