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| Texas death row inmate given reprieve |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/30/2004 |
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A man convicted of murder when he was 17 won a reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday evening, about four hours before his scheduled execution. Lawyers for death row inmate Mauro Barraza, 32, had argued his death should be delayed because the nation's high court is expected to review the issue of executing teenage killers later this year. Barraza already had been moved from death row at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to the unit where lethal injections are carried out and had ordered his last meal: 20 pieces of bacon, a cheeseburger, two slices of pizza and tacos. "Man, that's good news," he said of the reprieve. "I was hopeful. We already knew they'd given other people stays." Barraza was convicted of the June 1989 beating death of an elderly woman during a break-in. He had turned 17 the previous month. In January, the Supreme Court said it would look at the constitutionality of executing those who were under 18 at the time of their crimes. Arguments are likely in the court term beginning this fall. Texas is among five states allowing the death penalty for 17-year-olds; a dozen such inmates have been put to death since Texas resumed capital punishment in 1982. Fourteen states allow the death penalty for 16-year-olds. In a separate case, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order that blocks Texas prison officials from using a combination of three drugs in lethal injections. State authorities were appealing. |
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