Thursday, November 15, 2001

Texas man executed after reprieve for murder
Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE — A condemned Texas man temporarily spared from his sentence on Sept. 11 was executed by lethal injection Wednesday night for fatally shooting a man 13 years ago.

Meanwhile, in Georgia, a federal appeals court delayed the execution of a convicted killer by one day while it considered an appeal.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry had given Jeffrey Tucker a 30-day reprieve, fearing the courts would not be able to respond that day to any last-ditch plea from his attorneys because of the terrorist attacks.

When the reprieve expired, the new execution date was set. Tucker, who never denied his guilt, told prosecutors in a letter he did not welcome the reprieve and believed death would be a relief.

Tucker was sentenced to die for the 1988 shooting death of Wilton Humphreys, 65, of Granbury. Tucker had responded to a newspaper ad Humphreys placed to sell his truck and the pair had gone out on a test drive.

When arrested for the slaying, Tucker already had been in and out of Texas prisons three times, with convictions including drug possession, check forgery, theft and assault.

While in prison in 1984, he pleaded guilty to stabbing a cellmate. Less than four years later, he was paroled. He was arrested for the Humphreys killing the next month.

Tucker was the 15th execution in Texas this year and the first of two this week.y