By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – France's ambassador to the U.S. has asked Gov. Rick Perry to block tonight's scheduled execution of death row inmate Hank Skinner. Skinner visited with his French-born wife as he waited for the U.S. Supreme Court or Perry to decide whether to halt the execution.
Ambassador Pierre Vimont is asking that Perry pardon Skinner or suspend his execution so the 1993 killings can be further investigated.
Skinner doesn't deny he was in the house in Pampa where his then-girlfriend was fatally bludgeoned and her two adult sons stabbed to death. Skinner insists that DNA testing could exonerate him in the deaths of Twila Jean Busby and her adult sons, Elwin "Scooter" Caler and Randy Busby.
Courts over the years since Skinner's conviction have rejected his appeals.
Skinner would be the fifth Texas death row inmate to be executed this year.
Official: Pipe bomb ups ante in Texas mailbox case
A federal official says discovery of an apparent pipe bomb in an east Texas mailbox "does up the ante" in an investigation of incendiary devices found in postal facilities in the region.
U.S. Postal Inspector Amanda McMurrey said Wednesday her agency plans to double a reward, to $10,000, after the device was found Tuesday in the town of Laird Hill, about 120 miles east of Dallas.
McMurrey says there was no concern about whether the apparent pipe bomb could have been detonated. Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives removed it.
The item was at least the 10th potentially explosive device found in east Texas postal facilities over the past month. The others were described as bottles containing flammable liquids and wicks. None exploded.
Security video of Fort Worth robbery, clerk killed
Security video from a Fort Worth gas station where a clerk was shot and killed shows his final moments being forced by two gunmen into an office area.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office on Wednesday identified the slain clerk as 22-year-old Daniel Rojas-Torres of Fort Worth.
Police released the store video in an effort to locate three masked gunmen accused in the robbery early Tuesday that also left a bread delivery man shot in the head. The victim was transported to a Fort Worth hospital in critical condition. His name and further details were not immediately released.
Greyhound passenger busted, $500,000 in cocaine
A tip from a Greyound bus driver about a suspicious man led Sherman police to $500,000 worth of cocaine in the passenger's unmarked suitcase.
Sgt. Bruce Dawsey says an officer was waiting at the bus stop Tuesday when the northbound vehicle arrived from Dallas.
Dawsey says 12 pounds of cocaine turned up in the lining of the man's suitcase, after he consented to the search. Investigators believe the passenger was bound for St. Louis.
The suspect, who listed an Austin address, was in custody facing drug possession charges, plus was on an immigration hold for allegedly not being in the U.S. legally.
Officials with Dallas-based Greyhound say their bus drivers are trained to look for suspicious behavior. Police say the driver noticed the man as his luggage was being loaded.
Sherman is about 60 miles north of Dallas.