death penalty news May 3, 2005
TEXAS -- impending execution: Texas Prepares For Sixth Execution Of 2005 Final appeals are pending for Texas death row inmate Lonnie Wayne Pursley, 43, who is scheduled to die just after 6 p.m. Tuesday in the state's death chamber in Huntsville. Pursley was sentenced to die for the robbery and beating death of Robert Earl Cook, 47, of Livingston. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the case last month. Attorneys trying to halt the punishment are challenging the trial testimony of a medical examiner. Pursley is a Houston native who grew up in Coldspring. Court documents indicated Cook was driving near Shepherd, where Pursley had gotten into an argument with his wife while at his mother-in-law's. Prosecutors believe Pursley was walking along the highway and Cook offered him a ride. Pursley says, on a prison pen pal web site, that the case and testimony against him were false. Investigators deny the allegations. (source: KWTX)
