Dallas Death Row Inmate Loses Appeal

A federal appeals court has refused appeals from two Texas death row inmates, including one condemned for killing a Dallas woman when he was 19 and another condemned for killing a corrections officer 12 years ago while already serving a life sentence for a murder.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected arguments from 39-year-old Bobby Lee Hines and 32-year-old Robert Pruett.

Hines was condemned for the 1991 death of 26-year-old Michelle Wendy Haupt. Haupt was stabbed repeatedly with an ice pick and strangled with a cord inside her apartment in the 3500 Country Square Drive in Dallas.

Hines was staying next door to Haupt in the apartment of the complex's maintenance man, who had master keys to all of the units.

Police found cigarettes and a bowl of pennies from Haupt's apartment under the sofa where Hines slept, and in his pants pocket they found a gold charm that belonged to Haupt. Hines had scratches to his face and neck from his struggle with Haupt.

Hines was 19 at the time and on probation from a 10-year burglary sentence after spending three months in a boot camp.

Pruett in December 1999 was at the McConnell Unit prison near Beeville in South Texas, serving 99 years for a slaying in Harris County, when he used a shank to fatally stab a corrections officer.