Man executed after Perry rejects parole board's clemency recommendation
By MICHAEL GRACZYK
The Associated Press
HUNTSVILLE - Forty-five minutes after Gov. Rick Perry rejected the state parole board's recommendation that Robert Lee Thompson's sentence be commuted to life in prison, Thompson was executed Thursday for his part in a fatal Houston store holdup.
Thompson, 34, was an accomplice during the store robbery but did not shoot store clerk Mansoor Bhai Rahim Mohammed 13 years ago.
One Harris County jury sentenced the gunman, Sammy Butler, to life in prison. Another jury sentenced Thompson to death under Texas' "law of parties."
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 5-2 on Wednesday for a rare recommendation that Thompson's sentence be commuted to life. Perry is not required to follow the board's advice.
In a statement, Perry said: "After reviewing all of the facts in the case of Robert Lee Thompson, who had a murderous history and participated in the killing of Mansoor Bhai Rahim Mohammed, I have decided to uphold the jury's capital murder conviction and capital punishment for this heinous crime. There is no reason to set aside the capital murder conviction handed down by a Texas jury and upheld by numerous state and federal courts."
