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Texas, Alabama halt executions, Florida puts inmate to death

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Texas Governor Greg Abbott commuted the death sentence of a convicted murderer less than an hour before he was set to be executed on Thursday, after the death row inmate's family begged for mercy and won a rare clemency recommendation.

Florida executed a man convicted of the 1993 rape and murder of a college student, the state's Department of Corrections said. Alabama halted its planned execution on Thursday of a convicted murderer who has spent more than three decades on death row after his lawyers warned his failing health left him with veins that were unusable for a lethal injection.

In Texas, Thomas Whitaker, 38, was convicted of masterminding a 2003 plot against his family in which his mother Tricia, 51, and brother Kevin, 19, were killed. His father Kent was shot in the chest but survived.

Kent Whitaker, a devout Christian and retired executive, said he had forgiven his son and that his family did not want him to be executed. The father said in a clemency petition it was his right as a victim to seek mercy and it would make his pain worse if the death penalty were implemented.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended clemency in a unanimous decision on Tuesday based largely on the father's request.


Source :- yahoonews



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