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| Texas Death Row Inmate Wins Reprieve |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/27/2002 |
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A convicted murderer set for execution later this week won a reprieve Tuesday after his lawyers complained that the judge who signed his death warrant once called him a 'piece of trash.' The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed to hear arguments on the complaint of bias against Gary Wayne Etheridge. Etheridge, 38, was set for lethal injection Thursday for the 1990 slaying of a 15-year-old girl during a burglary at her home outside Houston. Etheridge's lawyer, Jim Marcus, argued District Judge J. Ray Gayle III should not have set the execution date. Marcus contended the judge was biased for calling Etheridge a 'piece of trash' and a 'blight on society' after the jury decided on a death sentence for Etheridge in 1990. Gayle removed himself from an appellate hearing in the case but said that did not prevent him from signing the death warrant. If Gayle had stepped aside altogether, another judge would have been appointed to sign the death warrant. 'I believe it's a technicality,' District Attorney Jeri Yenne said. |
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