Texas Court Postpones Execution of Inmate Pending New DNA Testing Evidence

A Texas court on Tuesday postponed the execution of a 35-year-old man convicted of killing a correctional officer in 2009.

The 156th Judicial District Court in Bee County halted the execution by lethal injection of Robert Pruett, who was already serving life imprisonment since he was 15 years old for the murder of Ray Yarborough in 1995.

While in prison, Pruett was charged with killing correctional officer Daniel Nagle, who was found dead with stab wounds in the multi-purpose room of the jail facility on Dec. 17, 1999.

Pruett was convicted of murdering Nagle and was sentenced to death on April 30, 2002.

According to a statement by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas, Pruett missed getting a hot lunch on that day and was given a sack lunch.

He tried to bring his lunch to the recreation area, which was a violation of prison rules. Nagle told him that he needed to finish his lunch before he could go to the recreation area and wrote him a disciplinary charge.

In the afternoon, Pruett stabbed Nagle using a "shank" made of metal rod sharpened to a point at one end and wrapped a tape at the other end. Nagle died of heart attack as a result of the trauma caused by the stab wounds.

The murder weapon and Nagle's disciplinary note were found at the scene of the crime.

According to the testimony of John Lee Davis of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Office of Inspector General, after Pruett was arrested, the suspect said, "Go ahead and run that disciplinary case on me now. Oop[s], I want to call my first witness, Officer Nagle. Oops, he's dead," and began laughing.

Inmates testified that they saw Pruett attacking Nagle.

Pruett's lawyer, David Dow, put forward the idea of testing the shank and the tape around it for DNA with "newer techniques," according to a report by the San Angelo Live.

Dow was referred by the state of Texas to a forensic elab.

In its order, the court declared that the DNA testing was meant to delay the execution of Pruett.

"This court has no doubt the request for the proposed DNA testing was made to delay the execution of sentence," the court said. "However, at this point, although such delay tactics appear to be unreasonable, it is not clear that they, in fact, are unreasonable."

It added, "Although unlikely, it is not impossible to conceive that there could be exculpatory results. Therefore, given the circumstances and the timing, this court is hesitant to punish Applicant for his attorney's dilatory tactics."

The results of the DNA testing will be available on May 28.