Death row inmate now confessing
Days away from execution
LIVINGSTON, Texas (AP) -- A death row inmate who maintained his innocence for more than 18 years in the stabbing death of a Houston man has confessed to the crime just days before his scheduled execution.
"I lied. I want to tell the truth. I am guilty," Peter Miniel told The Associated Press in a death-row interview.
He also apologized to his victim's family, saying he would "like to make peace with them if possible."
Miniel, 42, is set to die by injection on October 6. His attorney said he has given up his final appeals.
"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."
Miniel was convicted of the May 1986 murder of Paul Manier, 20, at Manier's apartment. Miniel and a companion, James Warren Russell Jr., beat Manier with a glass beer mug and shock absorber before stabbing him nearly 40 times with a small knife and jamming a blanket down his throat, according to court documents.
They took a stereo and his wallet containing $20, then went to eat at a Burger King.
A Houston jury took five minutes to return a guilty verdict for Miniel. Russell testified against him and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Manier's relatives declined to comment.
Thirteen Texas inmates have been executed this year and another is set to die on October 5.
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