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California Fights to Resume State Executions

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ California officials are moving to begin executing death row inmates again as soon as September, prompting a judge to temporarily bar the state from resuming executions.

Prosecutors point to new lethal injections procedures that were recently approved, saying the state is ready to execute condemned inmates.

Marin County Superior Court Judge Verna Adams had put lethal injections on hold in 2007 while the regulations were being drafted and adopted.

Adams said Tuesday that the execution ban remains in effect until she rules otherwise.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown says the governor has asked him to appeal the judge's order. The state argues that the prohibition was automatically lifted when the regulations became official policy Monday.

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