HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) _ Convicted killer Michael James Perry has been executed for gunning down a nurse nine years ago at her suburban Houston home and stealing her red convertible.
The 28-year-old Perry was put to death by lethal injection Thursday. He became the 14th prisoner executed this year in Texas, the nation’s most active death penalty state.
His execution comes about 90 minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-day appeal. Perry’s lawyers have argued they had new evidence showing Perry was already in jail when 50-year-old Sandra Stotler was murdered in 2001 at her home near Conroe, Texas. They have also contended a friend of Perry’s killed Stotler.
Prosecutors have said they had voluminous evidence tying him to the crime.