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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A former Missouri City police officer will be executed on Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court declined a stay of execution, the SCOTUS blog announced in a tweet.
The court denied two applications in which the ex-cop, Robert Fratta, sought a stay. Fratta is the first scheduled execution for the state of Texas this year.
The next five executions come from Dallas, Potter, and Harris Counties.
NEW: The Supreme Court declines to grant a stay of execution to Robert Fratta, who is scheduled to be executed in Texas tomorrow. The court denies two applications in which Fratta sought a stay. There are no recorded dissents. pic.twitter.com/0FxXPDZU0s
%u2014 SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) January 9, 2023
The 65-year-old received his death sentence in 1996 after a jury found him guilty of plotting the death of his wife, Farah, during their divorce in 1994.
After spending more than 25 years on death row, Fratta is set to be executed on Tuesday, after a judge signed the execution order on Oct. 11, 2022.
Fratta was in church when Farah was shot to death by two hired men in the garage of her home.
Prosecutors said the motive was money and custody over their child.
The two other men involved in the plot were also sentenced to death, but Fratta is the first to face execution.
Fratta has claimed in the past that his late wife’s father framed him.
Fratta had two different trials, first in 1995 and then in 2009, after some of the evidence used to convict him was ruled inadmissible, paving the way for a second trial.
In the 2009 trial, Fratta’s children testified against him, referring to him as “Bob,” as they recalled the night their mother was killed.
A verdict was reached in May 2009, and he was given the death penalty after being found guilty of capital murder.