A
Texas appeals court issued a stay of execution in the case of Bernardo
Abán Tercero a day before he was due to be put to death. The stay has
been granted so that the courts can consider the claim that the
prosecution presented false testimony at the 2000 trial.
On 25 August, the Texas Court of Criminal appeals issued a stay of execution in the case of Nicaraguan national Bernardo Abán Tercero,
who was due to be put to death on 26 August for the murder in March
1997 of Robert Berger during a robbery of a Houston dry-cleaning
business. The appeals court remanded the case to the trial level court
to review the merits of the claim raised in a petition filed on 24
August that a key prosecution witness had lied at trial. She had
testified that Bernardo Abán Tercero had told her that he had shot the
victim after becoming angry that he did not have any money, because the
man’s daughter had seen him, and because the victim himself “had seen
his face” and therefore could identify him. She also said that Bernardo
Abán Tercero had threatened her not to say anything to the authorities.
Her testimony, the petition argues, “created a powerful ‘false
impression’ about Mr. Tercero’s mental status during the offense,
establishing intent and motives for the conviction of murder in the
course of his robbery of the cleaners”.
Click here for more information about this case.
