MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. – An inmate condemned to die this month is seeking a reprieve long enough to donate part of his liver to a dying sister.

Gregory Scott Johnson is scheduled for execution May 25 for the 1985 murder of an 82-year-old Anderson woman who was beaten, stomped and set on fire.

Defense attorneys want Gov. Mitch Daniels to grant Johnson the delay of execution to allow for tests to determine whether the organ is compatible with Johnson’s sister.

For now, the state has no opinion on whether the reprieve ought to be granted, Deputy Attorney General Steve Creason said, but will weigh in after Johnson’s attorneys argue their case Monday.

Johnson’s sister, Deborah Otis, 48, lives in an Anderson nursing home. Michelle Kraus, Johnson’s attorney, said she is a mother and a grandmother who “has much to live for.”

Kraus said doctors could take a piece of Johnson’s liver in what’s known as a “split liver” transplant. It could take two weeks to two months for him to recuperate, said Dr. Joseph Tector of the Indiana University School of Medicine.

About three years have passed since the last time a “split liver” transplant was performed in Indiana because there is a risk to the donor, said Sam Davis, director of professional services at the Indiana Organ Procurement Organization.

Tector also said patients’ chances of survival are much better if they receive a whole liver.

Unlike some other experts, Tector said the lethal injection of potassium chloride used in Indiana would not necessarily render the liver unusable after Johnson’s death.