Bush 'inclined' to grant reprieve to killer facing execution

June 1, 2000
Web posted at: 10:16 a.m. EDT (1416 GMT)

AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush said he is "inclined" to grant his first ever 30-day reprieve to a death row inmate who was convicted of the 1993 rape and ax murder of his 12-year-old step-daughter.

Ricky Nolen McGinn, 43, a mechanic with an 11th grade education, is scheduled to die shortly after 6 p.m. (7 p.m. EDT) Thursday.

A meeting was expected to begin this morning in Austin on whether Bush will grant McGinn a one-time, 30-day reprieve.

The meeting will be held between Bush's representatives in Austin and Texas State Sen. Rodney Ellis, a Democrat, who is acting governor while Bush is campaigning out of state. Word of results of the meeting is expected by 11:30 a.m. EDT.

The Texas parole board voted 18-0 Wednesday to deny McGinn's request for commutation and voted 11-7 not to grant him a one-time 30-day reprieve.

The Texas governor may commute a death sentence only upon the recommendation of the state parole board, but he can go override their decision on the reprieve.

Asked Wednesday if he would grant such a reprieve, Bush told CNBC's "Hardball": "I'm inclined to because ... I want the man to have a full day in court. And if there is any doubt, any outstanding evidence that could exonerate him from the rape, we ought to look at it."

Bush said he would wait to make his decision until all appeals had been exhausted, but later told reporters he was "more than likely" to grant the reprieve if the decision comes to him.

The comments come just days after Bush advocated DNA testing to "erase any doubts" from some death penalty cases.

McGinn's lawyers have appealed the case to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing the evidence on the rape charge was inconclusive.

A jury in June 1995 found McGinn guilty of raping and killing Stephanie Flanary, his 12-year-old stepdaughter. McGinn testified he and Stephanie drank beer together on the day of the murder, May 22, 1993, until she vomited and lost consciousness.

Prosecutors argued he struck her with the blunt side of an ax, killing her with four blows to the head that fractured her skull. Her body was found three days after she was reported missing in a culvert off a remote highway, about three miles from McGinn's house.

McGinn told police she had taken a nap after drinking beer, woke up and then left on a walk from which she never returned.

Authorities found blood in his truck, which he claimed was from fish he caught and cleaned. Tests on the blood showed a match to Stephanie's and excluded 99.9 percent of all possible donors.

Similar matches were detected in tests of a blood-covered ax found under the seat of McGinn's pickup truck. Semen was found on the victim's shorts, and a pubic hair recovered during Stephanie's autopsy matched McGinn's, according to prosecution tests -- but the defenses disputes this in its appeal of his death sentence.

Under Texas law, capital punishment in murder cases requires an aggravating factor such as rape committed in the course of the slaying.

Texas leads the nation in executions with 217 since resuming capital punishment in 1982, six years after the Supreme Court lifted a national death penalty ban.

Since Bush has been governor, 130 people have been executed -- 128 men and two women. The 131st, Robert Earl Carter, was put to death Wednesday night.

Bush has been questioned repeatedly on the campaign trail about the Texas execution record and has responded that he believes no innocent person has been put to death.

Although he has never granted a 30-day reprieve, Bush did commute the death sentence of Henry Lee Lucas, a confessed serial killer who recanted in prison and is now serving a life term. Bush said evidence in the case was insufficient.

And earlier Wednesday, Bush pardoned a man, A.B. Butler, who was jailed 17 years for a rape and kidnapping that a DNA test showed he did not do.

Butler was serving a 99-year sentence for the 1983 crime before he was released on bond several weeks ago and pardoned.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
State of Texas Web Site

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