Condemned man seeks reprieve from high court
HUNTSVILLE — A Texas death row inmate who sued unsuccessfully to try to halt his execution, arguing that more DNA testing needed to be done, is now trying to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the punishment scheduled for Thursday.
Robert Pruett was already serving 99 years for a neighbor’s killing when he was convicted in the death of a prison guard who was stabbed in an attack that prosecutors say stemmed from a dispute over a peanut butter sandwich. Pruett wanted to take the sandwich into a recreation yard against prison rules, they said.
An autopsy showed corrections officer Daniel Nagle died of a heart attack brought on by the December 1999 stabbing.
Pruett, 38, has insisted he’s innocent of Nagle’s death at the McConnell Unit near Beeville, about 85 miles southeast of San Antonio.
He would become the sixth prisoner executed this year in Texas.