Court blocks Texas execution set for this week

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – A man set for execution this week for the slaying of a 64-year-old suburban Dallas grandmother during a burglary of her home more than 18 years ago has won a reprieve.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stopped the scheduled Thursday lethal injection of 46-year-old Charles Don Flores.

Flores was condemned for the January 1998 fatal shooting of Elizabeth Black at her home in Farmers Branch.

The court says Flores’ attorneys should have more time to develop a claim challenging the testimony of a witness who identified Flores at the scene after undergoing hypnosis. In the ruling Friday, two of the court’s nine judges would have rejected the appeal.

Flores is one of two men convicted of the slaying. A partner received 35 years in prison and has been paroled.

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