10 April 2017 :

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution for Paul Storey after the parents of the man he killed said they did not want him to die. Storey, 32, Black, was scheduled for execution on April 12. The case was sent back to the trial court to review claims that the prosecution presented false evidence about the victim's parent's views on the death penalty. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals sent Storey's case back to a lower court for review. Paul Storey was convicted of the 2006 murder of Jonas Cherry during a robbery at a Hurst putt-putt golf park. His accomplice, Dewayne Porter, pleaded guilty and received a life sentence. Storey was offered the same plea deal as Porter, but he chose to go to trial and was sentenced to death. His lawyers, in an appeal filed Friday, contend that Tarrant County prosecutors told jurors that the Cherry family wanted Storey to be executed, despite knowing they opposed the death penalty. In a video released this week, Judith and Glenn Cherry pleaded with prosecutors and Gov. Greg Abbott to stop Storey's execution. "It pains us to think that due to our son's death, another person will be purposefully put to death," Judith Cherry said in the video. "Also motivating us is that we do not want Paul Storey's family, especially his mother and grandmother, if she is still alive, to witness the purposeful execution of their son. They are innocent of his deeds." The Cherrys asked state officials to commute Storey's sentence to life without parole. At least 1 juror who served during Storey's trial told defense lawyers that he would have refused to vote for the death penalty had he known the Cherrys did not want it. "I would have held out for a life without the possibility parole for as long as it took," juror Sven Berger wrote in an affidavit. Because prosecutors gave the jury false information, Storey's lawyers contend in their latest appeal that he should be granted a new trial to determine his sentence. The Court of Criminal Appeals asked a lower court to review Storey's claims and make recommendations about whether he should receive a new trial to determine his sentence.