Harris County

Texas Inmate Set to Die in October for Prison Officer Death

A 37-year-old prisoner on Texas death row for the slaying of a corrections officer has received an execution date for later this year.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark says the agency has received court documents setting Robert Pruett for lethal injection Oct. 12.

Pruett was set to die last August but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the punishment after Pruett's lawyers appealed a trial court ruling on new DNA testing in his case. In April, the appeals court ruled the trial outcome wouldn't have changed if new DNA test results had been available.

Pruett already was serving a 99-year murder sentence from Harris County when he was condemned for fatally stabbing corrections officer Daniel Nagle in December 1999 at the McConnell Unit prison near Beeville.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us