High Court Declines TX Murderer's Appeal:  A man convicted of arranging the murder of his mother and brother in order to collect a $1 million inheritance lost his bid for Supreme Court review of his death sentence Tuesday.  Michael Graczyk of the Associated Press reports that Thomas Whitaker plotted with two friends to kill his parents and brother and even shot himself in the arm to make it appear that he was also a victim.  Unfortunately Witaker's father survived and his two accomplices plead guilty.  In his appeal he argued that prosecutors broke their promise to let him plead guilty to avoid a death sentence.  Last April the 5th Circuit held that while Whitaker's attorneys initiated the plea deal, prosecutors only promised to "consider" it.  A jury decided Whitaker deserved a death sentence.

Lifer Who Stabbed Prison Guard Executed:  A inmate serving a 99-year sentence for murder when he stabbed a Texas corrections officer to death eighteen years ago, was put to death Thursday.  Samantha Schmidt of the Washington Post reports that Robert Pruett was convicted of stabbing 37-year-old corrections officer Daniel Nagle eight times with a steel rod as payback over a dispute about a peanut butter sandwich.  Pruett won a stay of his execution in 2015 to allow additional DNA testing of the murder weapon.  After the results of the test proved inconclusive, Pruett filed a civil suit claiming that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied him due process.  After 5th Circuit rejected that suit, he filed a last minute petition arguing that the appellate court had used the wrong standard in rejecting his claims.  SCOTUS denied that appeal.  The Nathan Robinson of the New York Times has this story arguing Pruett's case.