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 Richard Masterson, 43, is scheduled to be executed by lethal
injection at 6 p.m. at the state's death chamber in Huntsville. If
the execution goes ahead, it will be the state's first this year and
the 532nd in Texas since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death
penalty in 1976, the most of any state.
There were 13 executions last year in Texas, according to the Death
Penalty Information Center, which monitors capital punishment in the
United States.
Lawyers for Masterson have launched appeals with the U.S. Supreme
Court to halt the execution, saying his due process rights were
violated and that Texas presented false and misleading evidence
regarding the death of Darin Honeycutt, 35, who went by the stage
name of Brandi Houston.
Lawyers for Masterson said there was no struggle, no murder and no
evidence indicating their client acted with violent intent. They
also questioned the credibility of the medical examiner who called
the death a homicide.
"The State's theory at the trial was that Petitioner strangled
complainant during the course of a robbery. Petitioner has never
denied that he restricted the complainant’s airflow, but only that
it occurred during a consensual sexual encounter," lawyers for
Masterson said in a court filing.
Texas prosecutors said that after Masterson killed Honeycutt, he
left the state in the victim's car, which was found days later in
Georgia being driven by a nephew of Masterson.
After fleeing to Florida, Masterson met a man in a bar frequented by
gay men. The two went to the apartment of the Florida man and
Masterson placed him a headlock, trying to strangle him, prosecutors
said.
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The man passed out and when he regained consciousness, he found that
his car and wallet were gone, authorities said.
A Florida police officer ran across the stolen car at a mobile home
park, which led to Masterson's arrest.
At his trial in 2002, Masterson, who has a long criminal record, did
not admit to the murder.
He took the stand and said he was a danger to society, daring jurors
to sentence him to death, which they did.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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