5 Hours Till Execution, Court Takes Man’s Case
From Times Wire Reports
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stopped the execution of a man about five hours before he was scheduled to be put to death in Huntsville in the 1989 slaying of a restaurant manager.
Steven K. Staley, 42, won the reprieve after lawyers argued that instructions given to jurors in the death penalty phase of his 1991 trial were unclear.
The appeals court said it would rule on Staley’s claim.
“Praise God!” Staley told officials. “I didn’t want to die.”
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