( CNN ) -- A federal judge on Friday denied a stay of execution for a California man who raped and murdered a 15-year-old , but gave him a choice of whether to die by single injection or the state 's recently revised three-drug method . If the execution proceeds as scheduled on Wednesday , Albert Greenwood Brown could become the first person to be executed in California since 2006 , when legal challenges arose prompting the state to revise its lethal injection procedure . He could also become the first inmate to be put to death in California 's new lethal injection chamber , which was modified to meet requirements to come out of the review . If , however , Brown elects to be executed by a single injection of sodium thiopental and the state refuses , a stay of his execution will be ordered , U.S. District Judge Jerry Fogel wrote in a decision issued today . Read the judge 's ruling ( PDF ) Fogel noted that present litigation had nothing to do with `` the wisdom or morality of the death penalty '' but rather , the narrow issue of whether the 56-year-old was entitled to a stay of execution . `` The passions that surround these issues are deep and entirely understandable , but they have little to do with the limited legal question presented here , '' he wrote . `` The court is painfully aware that however it decides a case of this nature , there will be many who disagree profoundly with its decision . The moral and political debate about capital punishment will continue , as it should . '' Brown was sentenced to death in 1982 for the rape and murder of Susan Jordan , who was walking to Arlington High School in Riverside when Brown pulled her into an orange grove , according to court documents . He raped and strangled her with her own shoelace and took her school identification cards and books . Later that evening , he looked up her family in the phone book and called their home , the documents state . `` Hello , Mrs. Jordan , Susie is n't home from school yet , is she ? '' court documents quoted him as saying . `` You will never see your daughter again . You can find her body on the corner of Victoria and Gibson . '' He also placed a call to police directing them to her body . During the investigation , three witnesses identified Brown as being near the scene of the crime . Police also found Susan 's school books and newspaper articles about her death in Brown 's home , and clothing with semen stains in Brown 's work locker . During the penalty phase of Brown 's trial , his lawyer presented psychiatric evidence suggesting that he had emotional problems , including sexual maladjustment and dysfunction and claimed he was remorseful . The jury deliberated for three hours before returning a death verdict , according to an opinion issued September 19 by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals . Brown had exhausted all his state and federal appeals and habeas corpus issues , according to the Riverside District Attorney 's Office , when he petitioned the court last week to join the case that led to an overhaul of the state 's execution procedures , which took effect August 29 . Among the changes , according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation : the revised three-drug method , which includes new directives on how to prepare and administer the mixture ; a new selection process and training program for members of the `` lethal injection team , '' which consists of groups including the security sub-team , the intravenous sub-team and the infusion sub-team . The state also built a new execution facility at San Quentin Prison , home of California 's male death row , with a bigger death chamber and observation room that separates guests of the condemned inmate from witnesses related to the victim . Brown argued that , until the court had an opportunity to conduct a full review of the regulations , no executions should proceed , according to Fogel 's opinion . Lawyers for the state argued that the defense failed to show the new regulations created `` a demonstrated risk of severe pain , '' as required by the most recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to test lethal injection protocol , Baze v. Rees . They also argued that the regulations had come about after years of review and public hearings , and in direct response to issues raised by the Supreme Court , and expressed concerns over deviating from them . Fogel wrote that allowing the condemned inmate to choose which injection protocol to use would address that concern . `` Allowing a condemned inmate to make such a choice is consistent with Ninth Circuit authority in cases arising both in California and elsewhere , '' he wrote . California 's last execution was on January 17 , 2006 , when Clarence Ray Allen was put to death for three counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances . From behind bars , he had helped orchestrate a deadly armed robbery at a convenience store .
If it proceeds , Albert Greenwood Brown 's execution will be first since lethal injection began . Federal judge gives Brown choice between single - or three - drug injection . Brown was sentenced to death in 1982 for rape , murder of 15-year - old Susan Jordan . Execution will be first in lethal injection chamber designed to meet new requirements .