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Texas Inmate Spared an Hour Before Execution

After his father, who was also a victim of 2003 shooting orchestrated by his son, pleaded with authorities to let him live.

A Texas inmate sentenced to die by lethal injection Thursday night for masterminding the 2003 killing of his mother and brother was spared just an hour before the planned execution. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he’d accepted a recommendation from the state parole board to grant clemency to the prisoner, Thomas “Bart” Whitaker, because of the efforts of the inmate’s father to save him. Whitaker’s father, Kent, was also injured in the 2003 shooting but went on to campaign for his son to be spared the death penalty. “Mr. Whitaker’s father, who survived the attempt on his life, passionately opposes the execution of his son. Mr. Whitaker’s father insists that he would be victimized again if the state put to death his last remaining immediate family member,” Abbott said late Thursday. Whitaker’s sentence has been commuted to life without parole. “I’m thankful not for me but for my dad,” he told prison officials, according to the Associated Press. His father said he was “humbled” by Abbott’s decision, which he said was “overpowering.”