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| Death row inmate who claimed innocence confesses |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 09/28/2004 |
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More than 18 years after a Houston man was fatally beaten with a car shock absorber and a beer mug and stabbed repeatedly with a knife, the Illinois man facing execution next week for the slaying is for the first time acknowledging the crime. "Years ago, when I first went to trial, I said I was not guilty of the crime," Peter Miniel told The Associated Press from a locked visiting cubicle outside Texas' death row. "I was concerned and didn't want to get the death penalty. "I lied. I want to tell the truth. I am guilty. I was wrong. I want to pay the price I was supposed to." Miniel, now 42, was convicted of the May 1986 murder of Paul Manier, 20, at Manier's apartment. He's scheduled for lethal injection Oct. 6, a date he described as "a relief." "I've been locked up 18 years. This is 2004," Miniel said. "I want to get this over with. I feel like I've done a life sentence already." Thirteen Texas inmates have been executed this year and another is set to die on Oct. 5 - a day before Miniel takes his turn on the death chamber gurney in Huntsville. Miniel's Minnesota-based lawyer, Greg Merz, said at the inmate's request he's making no appeals to block the punishment. According to court documents, Miniel and a companion, James Warren Russell Jr., went to Manier's house to get some marijuana, then offered him some cocaine. As Manier leaned over a small mirror he was preparing to use to snort the drug, Miniel repeatedly hit Manier in the head with a glass beer mug. Then Meniel and Russell grabbed a shock absorber that was nearby and continued to beat the victim. When Manier failed to lose consciousness, court records show Miniel stabbed the man nearly 40 times with a small knife, tried slitting his neck and tried to asphyxiate him by jamming a blanket down this throat. |
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