Execution Delayed Again For Texas 7 Death Row Inmate Patrick Murphy
(CBSDFW.COM) - Just days before he was set to die for murdering an Irving police officer in 2000, death row inmate Patrick Murphy will have his execution delayed for the second time this year.
Murphy was part of a group of prison escapees known as the Texas 7 that killed officer Aubrey Hawkins during a crime spree on Christmas Eve.
Murphy was granted the stay of execution Thursday after the state refused to allow him to have a Buddhist chaplain hours before he was scheduled to be put to death on Nov. 13.
Back in March, he was given his first stay after he was not allowed to have a chaplain in the death chamber with him as he was receiving his lethal injection. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh said inmates who want a religious adviser can have one in the viewing room and not in the execution room.
Days later, the state banned clergy from being present in the death chamber.
Murphy talked to CBS 11 in March and claimed his life should be spared because he said he was on the other side of a sporting goods store where Hawkins was gunned down. He said he was in a getaway car.
"I'm not challenging the guilt of the crime," he said.
A new date for Murphy's execution has not yet been set.
