Johnny Joe Martinez, 29, was executed in Huntsville...

Johnny Joe Martinez, 29, was executed in Huntsville despite an unusual plea from the victim's mother that his sentence be commuted to life in prison.
Johnny Joe Martinez, 29, was pronounced dead at 6:30 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection for the murder of Clay Peterson during a robbery 9 years ago.
In an unusual twist last week, the victim's mother, Lana Norris, wrote the Texas Pardons and Paroles Board, asking that Martinez's death sentence be commuted to life.
"There is no doubt in my mind, that to execute Mr. Martinez would be a double crime against society," she wrote in the May 7 letter.
Her request was rejected Monday by the board in an unusually close 9-8 vote. Martinez was the 13th convicted killer executed this year in Texas and the 29th in the USA