POSTED: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - 12:24pm
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - 12:25pm
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — The U.S. Supreme Court has less than a day to decide whether to stop the execution of a Texas inmate accused of fatally shooting two people inside a Houston crack house.
Milton Mathis is scheduled for lethal injection Tuesday evening. The 32-year-old was convicted for a December 1998 shooting spree that killed 24-year-old Travis Brown and 31-year-old Daniel Hibbard. A 15-year-old girl was shot and paralyzed.
His attorneys argue in their appeal that Mathis is mentally impaired and therefore ineligible for the death penalty. Other courts have rejected the argument.
Mathis is among at least nine Texas inmates with execution dates scheduled in the coming months. Five inmates have been executed this year in Texas, the nation's busiest death penalty state.