A court has issued a stay of execution for an inmate who was scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday in Centre County.

Hubert Lester Michael Jr., 56, pleaded guilty to the July 1993 murder of 16-year-old Trista Elizabeth Eng after kidnapping her in York County, about a half-hour south of Harrisburg.

He was scheduled to be executed at 7 p.m. at a field hospital set up outside the State Correctional Institution at Rockview.

But on Thursday afternoon, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia decided to send Michael's case back to a district court judge for additional proceedings.

On Wednesday, two requests for a stay were rejected in federal court in Harrisburg, and appeals were pending in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The state pardons board also voted not to grant Michael clemency and his attorneys said at that time they would not seek another clemency hearing.

After Thursday's decision by the federal appeals court to halt plans to execute Michael, his defense attorneys issued a brief statement that said there are "compelling legal claims which have never been reviewed by any court."

The state attorney general's office is declining comment, The Associated Press reported.

Stay with 6 News, WJACTV.com and WJACTV.com Mobile for continuing coverage.