Robert Pruett Texas

Abolitionists, Yesterday there were news reports that Robert Pruett, the man who had been scheduled for Texas' 499th execution on May 21, had received a 60-day set off. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice's web page still has Pruett listed for execution on May 21. I just spoke with the District Clerk in Bee County where the McConnell Unit is located and where Pruett was housed when convicted of murdering a correctional officer, which landed him on death row. The District Clerk told me that Mr. Pruett's attorney, David Dow, made two unopposed motions yesterday, Thursday, May 9, 2013: (1) to put off the executions for 60 days and (2) to have DNA testing done on a palm print found on a piece of paper at the scene of the guard's murder. She said that the judge will have to have a hearing before the May 21st execution date in order to rule on those two motions. This is why there is not yet another execution date set. They are waiting for the judge to set a hearing and then rule. This judge ruled against extending the execution date just back in March when it was requested by another attorney representing Pruett Rihard Riogers III, of Corpus Christi. When I looked on the Bee County web page, I could find no judge named Ronald Yeager. It turns out that he is a retired judge and was brought in on this case. Senior District Judge Ronald Yeager sat on the bench, presiding over the 156th District Court, and gave Pruett the May 21 executions date after Pruett asked him to postpone it until August as there was new evidence in his case. His attorney couldn't specify what the new evidence was as it was being looked into by another attorney, presumably David Dow from the University of Houston Law Center. The clerk thought Judge Jeager was used in all cases involving the prison system. There are three state prisons in Bee County: the McConnell Unit (2984 prisoners), the Garza West Unit (2278 prisoners plus 400 at a work Camp) and the Garza East Unit (1978 prisoners). (Some background: Pruett was 15 years old when, on Aug. 9, 1995, he and his brother allegedly held down a resident of the trailer park where they lived in Houston while their father stabbed a man to death. All three of them were sentenced to life in prison. He was tried and convicted under the law of parties after he and his older brother were told to hold down the man his father murdered. Robert Pruett began serving his life sentence in October 1995, only weeks after the murder. He had just turned 16. At the time, TDCJ officials said he was the youngest prisoner in Texas’ adult prison system. At age 20, Pruett was charged with killing a guard at the McConnell Unit in Bee County in 1919 and got the death penalty. Robert Pruett's case is being handled by special prosecutors from the prison system and is in the court of Senior Judge Ronald Yeager.) Gloria Rubac (cell) 713-503-2633 (home) 713-225-0211