Texas to execute convicted killer despite clemency plea by victim's family

[July 17, 2018]    AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas plans to execute a man on Tuesday convicted of murdering a store owner during a 2004 robbery despite calls from some relatives of the victim to spare the life of the inmate whom they say they have forgiven.

Texas is set to execute Christopher Young, 34, by lethal injection at 6 p.m. (2300 GMT) at its death chamber in Huntsville for the murder of Hasmukh Patel at his convenience store in San Antonio.

Death Row inmate Christopher Young is shown in this undated handout photo provided July 16, 2018. Texas Department of Criminal Justice/Handout via REUTERS

If the execution takes place, Young would be the 13th U.S. inmate put to death this year and the 553rd inmate in Texas to be executed since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the most of any state. Texas has carried out seven executions so far this year.

Lawyers for Young, an African-American, filed a last-minute appeal to halt his execution, arguing that race was a factor in a decision this month by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to deny a request to halt the execution. Those backing clemency wanted the board to recommend a sentence of life in prison.

Texas contends Young was duly convicted and deserves to die for the cold-blooded killing that came shortly after he sexually assaulted and carjacked a woman. The parole board has not commented on its decision to deny the clemency request, which had support from the murder victim's son, Mitesh Patel.

Mitesh Patel said Young's contrition over the crime and his work to help others in prison were among the factors that led him and other family members to support clemency, the Texas Tribune reported.

Patel told a rally last week in support of the clemency bid that Young's execution would not “take us toward any positive outcome."

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Peter Cooney)

[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.