Delay sought in death penalty case involving woman

Attorneys for death row inmate Gaile K. Owens have asked the Tennessee Supreme Court for more time to respond to the state’s request to set an execution date for her. Her attorneys on Monday requested a deadline of Feb. 5.
Last week, the state attorney general asked the court to set an execution date.
Owens was convicted in 1986 in Shelby County for the murder-for-hire of her husband. She was accused of hiring Sidney Porterfield to kill her husband with a tire iron. Porterfield was also sentenced to death and is still on death row.
According to court records, the U.S. Supreme Court last month denied her petition for a rehearing.
Owens is the first woman sentenced to death in Tennessee.