The 9th Circuit has issued a stay of Kevin Cooper's execution:

A condemned murderer whose bid for clemency was denied by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won a stay of execution on Monday, hours before he was to be executed. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request for an 11-judge panel to rehear the case of Kevin Cooper, convicted in 1983 of hacking four people to death.

.... Cooper was scheduled to be executed at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday at San Quentin Prison after 19 years on death row. Cooper won support from actors who oppose the death penalty including Denzel Washington, Sean Penn and Mike Farrell, and from the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. In addition, three of the jurors who convicted Cooper called for a stay of execution so hair and blood evidence can be tested.

We're heartened to see the hard work of activists bear fruit:

About 100 death penalty opponents gathered Sunday near Schwarzenegger's home in Southern California, and hundreds are planning a candlelight vigil outside the prison gates. "This could be one of our biggest protests ever," said Lance Lindsay, executive director of Death Penalty Focus, a group that lobbies against the death penalty. On Saturday, three of Cooper's jurors called for a stay of execution. They said blond hair found in the hands of one of the victims should be tested. The hair had not undergone DNA testing before the 1985 trial. Prosecutors believe the hair was that of the victim, sheared off as she was being hacked to death.

This is great news. For more on Kevin Cooper, check his website, Save Kevin Cooper. You can read Kevin Coopers' provocative essays on death row here.