Unless the federal courts or Gov. Timothy Kaine step in, a Virginia man who killed his 79-year-old neighbor is scheduled to be executed.

Kent Jermaine Jackson is set to die by lethal injection at 9 p.m. Thursday at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt for the 2000 death of Beulah Mae Kaiser.

Jackson and a friend beat, stabbed and sexually assaulted Kaiser.

Jackson confessed to killing Kaiser and was sentenced to death in 2003. Joseph Marquis Dorsett was convicted for his role and sentenced to 135 years in prison.

Wednesday night, Jackson's lawyers asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to halt the execution after a federal judge rejected their request for a temporary restraining order.