ST. LOUIS (AP)--A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit challenging the training and competence of Missouri's execution team in a decision that could move the state closer to resuming executions, but likely not for months.

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the contention of eight death row inmates that Missouri's past hiring of incompetent or unqualified execution team members, and failure to properly train them, posed constitutional problems.

Executions had been on hold in Missouri for four years until the state executed an inmate in May. Reginald Clemons' execution was the second scheduled in the state since the courts ruled that lethal injection in general, and the state's three-drug method in particular, was constitutional.

However, the 8th Circuit put a hold on Clemons' June 17 execution after his attorneys sought to ensure Missouri is using competent personnel.

Attorneys for Clemons and seven other death row inmates had argued that unqualified or incompetent people such as those Missouri has hired in the past would not follow the state's new written execution protocol, and risk prisoners being insufficiently anesthetized and suffering undue pain before dying.

The appeals panel said it could not assume Missouri plans to employ medical personnel who aren't qualified to conduct executions. The opinion upheld last year's ruling by a district court judge in Kansas City, who threw out their case.