22 February 2018 :

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, in a rare decision, has unanimously recommended clemency for Thomas Whitaker. If granted by Governor Greg Abbott, Whitaker's sentence will be commuted to life in prison. Texas planned to execute Thomas "Bart" Whitaker (38, White) on February 22 for the murders of his mother and brother. His father, Kent Whitaker, who survived the shooting, has met with the Texas Board of Pardons seeking clemency for his son. Whitaker is scheduled for lethal injection Thursday for masterminding the fatal shootings of his mother and brother at their suburban Houston home in 2003. Whitaker's father, Kent, also was shot in the attack but survived. He said he wants his 38-year-old son to live. The recommendation from the 7-member panel goes to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who can accept it or reject it. The governor appoints the parole board. It's only the 4th time since the state resumed executions in 1982 that the parole board has recommended clemency within days of an inmate's scheduled execution. In 2 of those cases, then-Gov. Rick Perry rejected the board's recommendation and those prisoners are among the 548 executed in Texas, more than any other state. David Gutierrez, the parole board's presiding officer, said the panel recommended the governor commute Whitaker's sentence "to a lesser penalty." Jurors who convicted him and sentenced him to death in 2007 had only 1 other option, life imprisonment.