Texas Inmate Executed After Stay Overturned

Convicted killer Dominique Green was put to death in Texas tonight after a stay of his execution ordered earlier in the day was overturned on appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant a last-minute stay.

Green was convicted of the murder of Andrew Lastrapes Jr. during a $50 robbery outside a Houston convenience store. His execution was opposed by relatives of Lastrapes as well as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu and the Rev. Joseph Fiorenza, the Roman Catholic bishop of Galveston-Houston.

Earlier today, U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas blocked Green's execution after his attorneys argued that boxes of improperly stored and catalogued evidence kept by the Houston Police Department crime lab could contain information relevant to the case.

Atlas' stay was overturned by a federal appeals court when Texas attorney general's office argued that all evidence in the case had been accounted for in the case. Later, the Supreme Court denied Green's application for a stay.

See A report: Green Executed After Appeals Fail