Convicted Killer To Get Lethal Injection

A murder case that began with a 79-cent purchase made more than 21 years ago could come to a close with the execution of the convicted killer.

John Satterwhite, 53, on Wednesday faced lethal injection for the fatal shooting of a convenience store clerk during a robbery.

His execution would be the third of six scheduled for this month in Texas and the 29th this year in the nation's most active capital punishment state. At least 10 other death row inmates have lethal injections set through the end of 2000, which could wind up a record year for executions in Texas, topping the 37 condemned prisoners put to death in 1997.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review Satterwhite's case. His attorney, Lewin Plunkett, said this week no 11th-hour legal appeals were anticipated.

Satterwhite already had been arrested eight times and been in prison for burglary and robbery by assault when he was charged with the March 12, 1979, killing of Mary Francis Davis, 54, after walking into the Lone Star Ice and Food Store in San Antonio under the guise of buying a pack of cigarettes and a soft drink.

Satterwhite's punishment has attracted none of the attention that drew the hundreds of protesters and media to Huntsville in June for the lethal injection of convicted killer Gary Graham. Graham's claims of innocence and an unfair trial spotlighted Texas as the nation's execution capital and support of the death penalty by Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican presidential nominee.

Elsewhere in Texas, new DNA tests led to freedom Tuesday for one inmate but failed to clear another who had won a reprieve from Bush in June.

Roy Wayne Criner, 35, was released after a decade behind bars when DNA showed he did not commit the rape for which he was sent to prison. Bush is expected to pardon him.

But a judge immediately set a new execution date of Sept. 27 for Ricky Nolen McGinn, a convicted child rapist and killer. McGinn had already eaten what was to have been his last meal and was just 18 minutes away from a lethal injection on June 1 when Bush granted a 30-day reprieve to allow time for new DNA testing.

Bush had never before granted a death row inmate a reprieve. During his more than five years in office, 139 inmates have been put to death.

Bush said Tuesday that he granted the reprieve because it was important to "help determine the defendant's guilt or innocence of the rape charge," which was the basis of the death sentence.