Gov. Rick Perry stopped the execution of Frances Newton

Gov. Rick Perry stopped the execution of Frances Newton, agreeing with a rare recommendation from the parole board that she should be temporarily spared from lethal injection. Prosecutors said that on April 7, 1987, Newton killed her husband, Adrian, 23, their son, Alton, 7, and daughter, Farrah Elaine, 21 months, to claim $100,000 in life insurance money. 
The decision came a day after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, in a 5-1 vote, endorsed a plea from Newton and her lawyers that the punishment be put off for 120 days and about 2 hours before she was scheduled to be put to death.
"After a lengthy review of the trial transcript, appellate court rulings and clemency proceedings, I see no evidence of innocence," Perry said in a statement announcing the stay.
"However, I am granting the additional time to allow the courts the opportunity to order a retesting of gunpowder residue on the skirt the defendant wore at the time of the murders and of the gun used in the murders. Although this evidence was evaluated by the jury and appellate courts, new technology is available for testing gunpowder residue."
Newton, 39, would have been the 1st black woman and only the fourth female put to death in Texas since the Civil War.
This was the 2nd time this year that the parole board recommended clemency for a condemned inmate. In May, Perry rejected the board's recommendation and permitted the execution of mentally ill murderer Kelsey Patterson.
Newton would be the 24th Texas inmate executed this year, equaling the total number of executions in the state last year. A record 40 were injected in 2000.
The reprieve that Gov. Rick Perry granted for Frances Newton is the 3rd delay he has approved in a death penalty case.
- Jeffery Tucker: On Sept. 11, 2001, he granted a 30-day stay of execution to Jeffery Eugene Tucker. The stay was granted because of the terrorist attack in Washington, D.C., and the subsequent closure of federal offices, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Tucker was executed on Nov. 14, 2001.
- Rodolfo Hernandez: On March 21, 2002, Perry granted a 30-day reprieve to Rodolfo Hernandez to allow San Antonio authorities time to investigate claims that he could provide evidence in several unsolved murders. Hernandez was executed on April 30, 2002.
- Robert Smith: Perry commuted his death sentence to life in prison on March 11 this year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute the mentally retarded.