The murderer of his wife with the help of a hired killer was sentenced to death

A former police officer convicted nearly 30 years ago of hiring a hit man to kill his wife had a last-minute legal plea Tuesday night, authorities in the US state of Texas said. After trial, the death penalty was awarded.

Robert Freita, 65, was scheduled to be executed later in the day Tuesday, but a surprise decision by a Texas judge delayed the execution by lethal injection for several hours, officials said.

In her ruling after an emergency hearing Tuesday morning, District Judge Catherine Mauzy said the drug authorities plan to use to cause death could not be used, because it would “probably be an illegal act.” , because the drug is more likely to expire.”

Robert Freita, along with several other death row inmates, filed a last-minute appeal in court, arguing that the use of the expired lethal drug pentobarbital would constitute cruel punishment. Therefore, its use should be prohibited under the US Constitution.

The district court granted a stay, but the Texas Supreme Court overruled Mauzy’s decision and ordered the sentence to be carried out. The state Supreme Court decided not to intervene and allowed the use of lethal injection. Freita was pronounced dead at approximately 7:50 p.m. and did not give a final statement before her death, the Texas Department of Justice said in a statement Tuesday night.

Robert Freita has been in prison since 1994, when prosecutors accused him of contacting an acquaintance to kill his wife, who hired him to kill 33-year-old Farrah Freita. Helped to get it.

According to legal documents, the husband and wife were fighting bitterly over divorce and custody of their three children. Court documents state that Robert Fritta then “asked many of his friends and acquaintances to kill him or tell them of someone who might kill him.”

Initially, most of his friends thought that he might be joking, or exaggerating, but as time went on and he talked about it more, some of them was convinced that he was serious about the matter.

Freita then contacted a fellow gym member, who offered the services of a hitman. According to American media, Freita paid the man 1,000 dollars to kill his wife. Freita was first sentenced to death in 1996, but the verdict was overturned in 2007 on a technicality. Then after the second hearing in 2009 he was sentenced to death again.

His lawyers filed several appeals but all failed. Lawyers even appealed to the US Supreme Court to block his execution, arguing that a witness in the trial had been hypnotized into testifying, but were unsuccessful.

Pentobarbital, the lethal injection used for executions in the US, is in short supply. Many pharmaceutical companies have limited production of the drug to avoid the death penalty, making it difficult to find. It’s only eleven days into this year and Robert Freita is the second death row inmate in the United States.