LAST CHANCE

Texas Executes Man Who Said Lawyer Relied on Wikipedia For Research

He was on death row for fatally stabbing a woman in 2004.

Texas executed a man on Thursday who claimed his former lawyer had committed fraud, The Texas Tribune reported. In the weeks leading up to his execution, TaiChin Preyor filed several appeals claiming his trial lawyer had worked with a disbarred attorney who relied on Wikipedia to learn Texas capital punishment law. He also argued that his lawyer failed to present evidence of a physically and sexually abusive childhood that could have convinced a jury to give him life in prison sentence. His appeals were denied by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals hours before his execution. Preyor was on death row for more than 12 years for fatally stabbing a woman and wounding her boyfriend in a drug-related robbery. He was the fifth person executed in Texas this year and the 16th person nationwide.