Inmate gets reprieve hours before execution
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- A man convicted of murder when he was 17 won a reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court about four hours before his scheduled execution Tuesday.
Lawyers for 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 to the unit where lethal injections are carried out.
"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 an execution Wednesday.
The inmate's lawyers argued the drugs could "cause an excruciatingly painful death" and violate his rights against cruel and unusual punishment. The state was appealing.
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