A planned execution in Texas on Thursday of a man convicted of murdering a woman in her San Antonio home in 2004 was delayed as the U.S. Supreme Court heard a last-minute appeal from lawyers for the death row inmate to spare his life. If the execution goes ahead, it would be the 543rd in Texas since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the most of any state. Lawyers for Preyor launched the appeal at the court on Thursday, arguing that prior counsel was incompetent and included a lawyer who lost his license two decades earlier and another attorney with no death penalty experience who used Wikipedia to navigate the Texas death penalty system.



More...