Texas Death Row Prisoner Scheduled to Die Today: Lawyers Seek Last-Minute Stay

In Texas, lawyers for death row prisoner Frances Newton are seeking a last-minute stay on her execution. She is scheduled to be killed later today. On Tuesday Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee held a press conference to urge Governor Rick Perry to stay the execution. On Monday one of the state’s main newspapers - the Austin American Stateman - came out in support of a new trial for Newton. The paper’s editors wrote “The public cannot be certain of her guilt, but she’s going to die for the crime anyway. Newton was denied a basic requirement for a fair trial - a competent lawyer.” Newton would be the 13th prisoner executed this year in Texas. She will be the first African-American woman killed in Texas since Reconstruction.