A Texas man is to be put to death by lethal injection on Tuesday for the murders of teenage twin sisters, the sixth death row inmate to be executed in the United States in the past 12 days.
Garcia White, 61, a former high school football star, was convicted in 1996 of stabbing Annette and Bernette Edwards to death in December 1989.
According to court and prison records, White killed the mother, Bonita Edwards, of the 16-year-old girls following an argument at their Houston home and then murdered the two sisters.
White was not tried for the death of Bonita Edwards or for two other murders he confessed to committing, one in 1989 and another in 1995.
White’s lawyers have filed a last-minute request for a stay of execution with the US Supreme Court, arguing that he is intellectually disabled and therefore not eligible for the death penalty.
Texas has carried out four executions this year at the state penitentiary in Huntsville and another inmate, Robert Roberson, 57, is scheduled to be put to death on October 17 despite questions about his guilt.