The Houston Chronicle posts "San Antonio man set to die next week wins reprieve," by Michael Graczyk of AP.
An ex-con convicted of killing a San Antonio man and stealing his prized motorcycle won a stay of execution Thursday when a judge in Houston agreed to new forensic tests.
Anthony Bartee, 54, had been scheduled for lethal injection Tuesday evening in Huntsville.
Bartee's lawyers argued in appeals that more DNA testing should be conducted on two strands of hair found in victim David Cook's hands. A third strand of hair was tested earlier and identified as belonging to the 37-year-old victim. Prosecutors argued the other two were scientifically insufficient for meaningful tests.
"What we're doing now is looking into which labs are capable of doing the testing in the shortest amount of time," Rico Valdez, an assistant Bexar County district attorney who handles capital case appeals, said.
State District Judge Mary Roman withdrew the execution warrant Thursday.
According to TDCJ, five Texas executions are currently scheduled, including one for February 29.
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