 The execution was planned to be a double execution, and he and Spenkelink would have been the first inmates in the United States since 1967 to have been put to death without forgoing all appeals and volunteering for execution.However, at the time that the warrant was signed, Darden still had multiple appeals pending.As a result, 14 hours before Darden was scheduled to be executed on May 23, he received a federal stay of execution.