STARKE, Fla. (AP) - The state is asking a U.S. Supreme Court justice to lift a stay of execution obtained by a South Florida drug trafficker who was convicted of killing a state trooper with a pipe bomb 21 years ago.
    
Paul Augustus Howell was set for execution Tuesday at Florida State Prison near Starke, but the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. District of Appeal on Monday temporarily blocked it. The state Tuesday asked Justice Clarence Thomas to lift the stay.
    
The Jamaican native was convicted of murdering Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Jimmy Fulford on Feb. 1, 1992.
    
Authorities said Howell hired a driver to deliver a gift-wrapped microwave oven with the pipe bomb inside to two Marianna women.
    
Fulford stopped him for speeding east of Tallahassee. The package exploded when Fulford tried to open it.

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