Texas executes accomplice to killing, actual killer gets life sentence

[The Straight Story]

Texas executes accomplice to killing

HUNTSVILLE, (UPI) -- A Texas man was put to death Thursday evening for his part in a deadly 1996 robbery after Gov. Rick Perry refused to follow a recommendation for clemency.

Robert Lee Thompson, 34, died by lethal injection at the state prison in Huntsville within an hour of the governor's announcement, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

The Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 5-2 Wednesday to recommend commuting Thompson's sentence to life, an unusual step in Texas. Thompson did not shoot Mansoor Bhai Rahim Mohammed, a clerk in the Seven Evenings convenience store in Houston who was killed during the holdup, although he shot another clerk who survived.

Sammy Butler, Mohammed's killer, was tried separately from Thompson and received a life sentence because the jury believed he did not intend to kill.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/11/20/Texas-executes-accomplice-to-killing/UPI-87281258693561/

[sakabatou]

1. WTF?!

[gratuitous]

2. This is called "justice" in Texas

You'd think if there was any efficacy to the death penalty, the crime rate in Texas would be zero.

[ddeclue]

3. There is no Huntsville Tennessee!!! Don't you mean Huntsville TEXAS?

:eyes:

[The Straight Story]

4. copied and pasted from original

will change it though

[zbdent]

5. Is the Fox video editor auditioning for a job at UPI.com?

I followed the link, and the byline says "Huntsville, Tenn.", like you said ...

[ddeclue]

7. Sorry but I lived in TN for 3 years - it's bassackwards too but it's not Texas at least..

Ironically I also lived in Huntsville ALABAMA (about 50 miles south of TN.)

:)

[Doc_Technical]

6. This reminds me of the movie, "Let Him Have It"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102288/