Only one day before he was set to be executed at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Domineque Ray received an emergency stay of execution from the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ray’s appeal was centered around religious freedom concerns centered around the refusal by court officials to allow a Muslim imam to be present in the death chamber during the inmate’s execution.

Ray filed the appeal last month, claiming that the presence of a Christian chaplain violated his religious freedom rights.

Alabama Department of Corrections officials agreed to remove the chaplain from the execution chamber but would only allow for Ray to meet with the imam before the execution, he would then have to watch from behind the glass in a viewing room.

The appeal states that “Ray made three requests for the accommodation of his religious beliefs; first, that his Imam be present in order to provide spiritual guidance for him at the time of his death; second, that the institutional Christian Chaplain be excluded from the chamber; and, finally, that he not be required to undergo an autopsy because it conflicted with his religious beliefs. The Warden denied the first two requests and explained that she had no decisional authority over the autopsy.”

Ray’s request for a stay was initially denied, as was his request to have his imam present during the execution.

On Wednesday, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s ruling and granted Ray’s request for a stay of execution.

The court’s decision stated that “Alabama’s policy facially furthers a denominational preference” and that “Alabama appears to have set up ‘precisely the sort of denominational preference that the Framers of the First Amendment forbade.’”

“Alabama did not provide the Court with any affidavit from the Warden or from any other prison official addressing in any way why there were not lesser measures available to protect its interests and provide the same faith-based benefits to Christians and non-Christians alike,” the decision continued. “Nor did Alabama offer anything from its Chaplain or from anyone else about the perceived risks or the things that a cleric might need to learn in order to undertake this solemn and sensitive task.”

Ray was sentenced to death for his part in the 1995 rape and murder of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville of Selma.