Last minute reprieve for condemned man

A condemned prisoner was spared less than an hour before he was to be taken to the Texas death chamber for killing a man who was shot 10 times in the head.

Lawyers for Yokamon Hearn, 25, contend he may be mentally retarded and want time to pursue the claim. The US Supreme Court has barred the execution of the mentally retarded.

The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to the delay but also set an accelerated briefing schedule to ensure the appeals would not be prolonged, said Dallas County prosecutor Lori Ordiway.

Hearn faces execution by injection for the 1998 shooting of a 23-year-old Plano stockbroker abducted at gunpoint from a Dallas car wash six years ago.

According to testimony at his trial, Hearn bragged to friends about how he “domed” Frank Meziere, meaning he shot him in the head.

Hearn was 19 at the time and had a lengthy record that included burglary, robbery, assault, sexual assault and weapons possession.

On Wednesday, Texas executed a convicted murderer, the eighth man to receive a lethal injection this year in the state, and the 14th inmate executed in America this year.