Texas appeals court stops execution

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- A state appeals court on Tuesday halted the execution of a triple murderer after attorneys argued jurors should have been allowed to consider his troubled childhood during his sentencing.

"That was the only issue I raised," said defense lawyer Randy Schaffer.

Mark Robertson, 35, whose lengthy criminal history started before he was a teenager, was set for lethal injection today for the execution-style slaying of Edna Brau.

Robertson received a life sentence for fatally shooting Sean Hill, 19, Brau's grandson, and another life term for killing a convenience store clerk in Dallas 10 days earlier.

Robertson's 1991 trial came during a two-year period before the Texas legislature clarified guidelines regarding jury instructions in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in another Texas case that involved a mentally retarded death row inmate.

Lawyers challenged that conviction, saying jurors should have been allowed to consider his mental retardation as a "special circumstance" when they considered punishment.