Accomplice faces execution in Texas Thursday, as reported in this AP story by Michael Graczyk. In 1996 Jeffery Wood and Daniel Reneau robbed a convenience store in the Texas Hill Country. During the robbery Reneau shot and killed the clerk Kriss Keeran. After the shooting, Wood helped Reneau steal the store's safe, and cash box, making off with over $11,000 in cash and checks. Reneau was executed in 2002, and Wood's attorneys are asking Texas Governor Rick Perry to commute his sentence because he was not the shooter.

Sixth Circuit overturns Death Sentence: In a split decision announced on Monday, the Sixth Circuit overturned the death sentence of Reginald Jells citing ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing. Jells was convicted of the 1987 kidnapping of a Ruby Stapleton and her 4-year son. The woman's partially nude body was found in a junkyard. At trial the coroner reported that she had suffered over 90 blows with transmission jack. The little boy was found alive in another junkyard. Jells was found guilty on overwhelming evidence. The dissent criticizes the majority for overturning the sentence because Jells' defense attorney failed to present mitigating evidence that would have would have presented a "more nuanced" and sympathetic picture of Jells. An AP story by Terry Kinney offers a brief report on the case.