USA - Texas. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended that Robert Thompson's execution be commuted to life in prison

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles today recommended that Robert Thompson's scheduled Thursday execution be commuted to life in prison after his lawyer successfully argued that he was not the triggerman in December 1996 convenience store robbery-murder. Gov. Rick Perry, who has only once in his tenure as chief executive voluntarily commuted a death sentence, is expected to rule on the case tonight or tomorrow. Thompson was sentenced to death in a law of parties case stemming from the slaying of Mansoor Rahim in a Dec. 5, 1996, robbery of a convenience store. Thompson's partner in the crime, Sammy Butler, fired the fatal shot, but was sentenced only to life in prison. Under the state's law of parties, all participants in a crime are held fully responsible and can be assessed the death penalty.