Another Texas execution is halted; D.A. finds polygraph
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HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS — A judge halted the scheduled Thursday execution of double-murder convict Joseph Lave after the district attorney’s office found a polygraph test that the defense had requested for years.
The test, administered to a codefendant, reflects on the man’s credibility, said Mike Ware, of the conviction integrity unit of the Dallas County district attorney’s office. The two previous district attorneys apparently failed to turn it over, Ware said. Prosecutors think several former attorneys at the office misled the court by claiming the evidence did not exist, he said.
At the office’s request, a state district judge canceled the execution late Wednesday.
It was the second canceled in Texas in two weeks. On Aug. 30, GOP Gov. Rick Perry commuted Kenneth Foster’s sentence to life on the advice of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
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