Convicted Killer of Dallas-Area Woman Set to Die

Attorneys for Robert Jean Hudson don't deny he killed ex-girlfriend Edith Kendrick in a rage nearly a decade ago at her Dallas-area apartment.

But they question whether he should be put to death tonight for what they say wasn't a deliberate act.

They contend Kendrick's murder was a crime of passion for which Hudson's expressed remorse and, therefore, not a capital crime under Texas law.

But if the courts don't intervene, the 45-year-old one-time convicted check forger will become the 18th inmate Texas has put to death this year. Two other executions scheduled for this week in Texas were stopped by the courts.

Hudson's lethal injection would cap a series of nine executions in Texas over the past six weeks. This year's total of 18 would be below the average 26 executions carried out in Texas annually over the past decade but still accounts for more than half of the nearly three dozen inmates put to death this year around the country.

Texas has no more executions scheduled for this year but already has at least 10 set for early 2009, including six in January.