HUNTSVILLE _ Condemned double-murderer Derrick Juan Sonnierreceived a reprieve about two hours before he was to walk intoTexas' death house Tuesday, the second time he has escapedexecution. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay of executionafter the Texas Defender Service, a watchdog capital punishmentgroup, filed two last-minute appeals in the 40-year-old man's case. Sonnier was sentenced to die for the 1991 stabbing deaths of MelodyFlowers, 27, and her 2-year-old son Patrick. Authorities said he had stalked the single mother of five formonths before the murders. After he received word of Tuesday's stay, Sonnier called familymembers and friends, but he did not issue a public statement, aprison spokesman said. Sonnier was scheduled to die once before, but Harris Countyprosecutors set aside the Feb. 27 execution date to await the U.S.Supreme Court's decision in a Kentucky case that challenged theconstitutionality of its three-drug lethal injection protocol, thesame used in Texas and dozens of other states. In April, the high court upheld the practice, but the Texas Courtof Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, has notyet ruled on the issue. So far, three other states have carried out death sentences. Sonnier was to be the first inmate put to death in Texas since theSupreme Court ruling. Michael Richard was the last, on Sept. 25. In its appeals, the Texas Defender Service argued that the statemade changes May 30 to its lethal injection protocol that have notbeen reviewed by any court. Its second appeal argues that the lethal injection protocolviolates Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusualpunishment, an issue raised in two other cases pending before thestate court. Details demanded Attorney David Dow, of the defender service, said the Texas court'sstay was an appropriate move given that it has not yet ruled on thelethal injection process. The prison system, he added, must also provide more details aboutthe procedure it follows to carry out capital punishment. Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of CriminalJustice, said the system's protocol has not changed. Prison officials, she said, made changes to internal writtenprocedures in light of the Supreme Court's ruling, but theprocedure remains the same. Among the additions made, she said, the prison system spelled outthe amount of training executioners receive. "We clarified in writing what we were already doing," Lyons said."The protocol remains the same." The state, however, must prove that Sonnier's executioner hasindeed completed the minimum training stipulated in the reviseddocument. Still, the procedural issues raised in the last-minute filings willunlikely free Sonnier from death row, Dow added. Two of Melody Flowers' daughters and other family members hadplanned to witness Tuesday's execution. Tameka Traylor, one of Flowers' daughters, held up a photo ofSonnier as she described him as "somebody that was able to brutallybeat an innocent mother and child." She also said it's been 17 years since the murders and Sonnierstill hasn't paid for his crimes. History of stalking On Sept. 16, 1991, police found Melody Flowers, 27, in thepartially filled tub of her Humble apartment. She had been bludgeoned with a claw hammer, raped, strangled andstabbed. The stabbed body of her toddler, Patrick, was on top ofher. Sonnier was dating one of Flowers' close friends and lived nearby.Authorities said Sonnier once slipped into her apartment when shewas not home. After the murders, police searched Sonnier's apartment and foundFlowers' bloody blouse and a blood-soaked towel that also belongedto her. Police later found a grocery bag stashed in a field near thecomplex that had his bloody socks, Injection Shoes, and other items thatconnected him to the crime. 2008-06-06 13:17:57
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