HOUSTON -- Attorneys for a condemned Texas inmate have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to halt his execution until they are allowed access to boxes of evidence that recently were found by police.

Dominique Green, 30, is scheduled to die Tuesday for the 1992 murder of Andrew Lastrapes Jr. in Houston.

His attorneys filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the Harris County District Attorney's Office, the Houston Police Department and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. They allege Green's due process rights are being violated by the defendants' refusal to determine if there is any evidence in the boxes that is relevant to his case.

Houston police in August found 280 boxes of mislabeled and improperly stored evidence from 8,000 cases dating back more than a decade.

David Dow, a University of Houston law professor who is representing Green, said he does not know if the boxes contain any relevant evidence. But he said it would be unlawful to execute Green before police have time to review the evidence.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court because the state courts have not yet ruled on the defense attorneys' request for a stay of execution or access to the evidence, Dow said in Friday's edition of the Houston Chronicle.

The Texas Attorney General's Office did not return a call seeking comment placed by the newspaper.

Green has acknowledged being at the slaying scene but has denied being the triggerman.

Green's case has attracted the attention of several death penalty opponents. He received a visit on death row earlier this year from Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu. He has asked Tutu to be a witness if the execution is carried out next week.

Andrew Lastrapes was one of 10 people robbed during a three-day crime spree authorities said involved Green. Two other men accused in the spree received lesser prison terms on a reduced charge for testifying against Green. A fourth man was not charged.

The three who were charged and convicted were black. The one person not charged was white.

Dow said he hopes something in the boxes of evidence might offer information on the two plea bargains and explain why the other man never was charged.