The Supreme Court yesterday halted the scheduled Texas execution of Troy Kunkle, 38, who was convicted of the 1984 murder of a man committed when he was an 18-year-old high school student, reports the Associated Press. Kunkle would have been the 11th person executed this year in Texas. Kunkle’s appeal argues that jurors were not allowed to consider his drug and alcohol abuse history. The Texas attorney general’s office, contesting the appeals, accused Kunkle’s lawyers of “trawling … the record for possible errors” in jury selection.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected requests that his sentence be commuted to life or that he be given a six-month reprieve. After the fatal shooting, Kunkle reportedly said, “Another day, another death, another sorrow, another breath.” Those are lyrics from a song called “No Remorse” from an album “Kill ‘Em All” by the heavy metal rock group Metallica.