The Associated Press
5/18/2004, 11:02 a.m. ET

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A killer who repeatedly asked to
be put to death,
then changed his mind, has won a delay of his
scheduled June 1
execution.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the stay
for Hubert L.
Michael on Monday and scheduled a June 22 hearing to
consider further
action on his appeal.

Michael, now 47, is an inmate at Graterford state
prison in Montgomery
County. He was free on bail on a rape charge in 1993
when he kidnapped,
raped and shot 16-year-old Trista Eng, then dumped her
body on state
game lands in York County. He pleaded guilty and spent
the next decade
fighting the automatic appeals that protected him from
death by lethal
injection.

In May, the appeals court affirmed Michael's right to
stop the appeals
and barred the Federal Defender Association of
Philadelphia from
further efforts to halt his execution.

But the court delayed its order for 10 days to give
Michael one last
chance to change his mind. He took it, asking the
court in a
handwritten letter to revive his appeal for a new
trial.

In Monday's ruling, the court also revoked the
defender association's
status as his legal representative and appointed a new
defense
attorney.