Jeff Ward is scheduled to be executed this evening at 6pm...
He killed no one, but was in the car outside involved in a store robbery where the clerk was killed....
....the shooter has already been executed...

...a law in Texas that is controversial for its level of punishment (although commonly called felony murder in many states is not generally a capital crime)... allows the court to sentence the defendant to death....called the "law of parties"...

If you would like to pressure Gov. Perry to give Mr.Ward a 30 day stay so his lawyers can continue to try to have his sentence commuted to prison term... you can call his office at
1-512-463-2000...

Jeff Wood has been granted a stay of execution by the Federal Court which cited the Texas courts for not fully investigating his mental capacity at the time of the crime...

This is something I never quite understood. Asking in general, if you sit in a car outside, your buddy goes inside e.g. a liquor store and says I'm gonna get some beer for later, then robs the store and you didn't even know he was gonna do it, you can be sentenced for the same crime?

Guess so...
Guilty by association

well depends alot on the state's law here, Brigitte... Texas law is particularly tough...
but something like that...

if you really don't know your buddy's gonna rob the place, you might get off.... the prosecutor generally has to offer proof that you knew a robbery was planned; even if no weapon was involved.... the laws assume that because it's a felony a reasonable person would know someone might get hurt... you are liable too... it's pretty controversial... you can even be responsible for one cop shooting another..... by mistake... in attempt to stop you or catch you... generally in this country it's not punishable by death, unless you are the actual killer..

Thanks for the information, kj.

This (Texas) is the state where, in the 1970s, a kid in Houston was sentenced to life in prison for stealing a loaf of bread from a convenience store. It's gotten a little better than that, but our state laws (and often, the way they're enforced) are still really, really bad.

That sounds real bad. A loaf of bread for a life in prison.
Is there still that three times ???-law in progress. Meaning the third time you do something wrong you go to prison for life?

"Steal a little and they throw you in jail,
steal a lot and they make you king"-----Bob Dylan