Quick Facts
Biography
Robert Lynn Pruett (born September 18, 1979), is a Texas death row inmate at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston. He was convicted for the 1999 murder of TDCJ Correctional Officer Daniel Nagle (September 9, 1962 - December 17, 1999) at the McConnell Unit, Bee County. Pruett had been certified as an adult at 16 and was already serving a 99 year sentence for his involvement in the murder of Ray Yarborough (January 4, 1967 - August 9, 1995), which occurred when Pruett was 15. Pruett was convicted along with Howard Steven "Sam" Pruett, Sr. (born December 13, 1946), his father, who received a life sentence for his participation in the murder, and Howard Steven Pruett, Jr. (born November 22, 1969), his brother, who received a 40-year sentence. Howard Sr. testified that neither son took part in the killing, as did Robert, who was nonetheless convicted under the Texas Law of Parties. Details of both the Yarborough and Nagle murders were featured in the BBC documentary "Life and Death Row - Crisis Stage".
Pruett has also consistently denied involvement in Nagle's murder and his defense attorney has stated that, "What convicted him was the testimony of four or five convicts who received deals, of one kind or another, in exchange for the testimony against Pruett."Pruett has an execution date of Thursday, October 12, 2017, and is scheduled to die by lethal injection if appeals for clemency to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles are unsuccessful. Pruett is represented by the Texas Innocence Network and his attorneys are still pursing his innocence claim by appealing the denial of his DNA relief through the courts.
Pruett has already received 4 stays of execution. His previous execution dates were as follows: May 21, 2013 (stayed) May 21, 2014 (stayed) April 28, 2015 (stayed) April 27, 2016 (rescheduled to August 23, 2016 without comment), August 23, 2016 (stayed).
Conviction
A Nueces County jury found Pruett guilty of capital murder on April 24, 2002. The only witnesses to Nagle's murder were inmates. Nagle, who was the president of the AFSCME union local that represents McConnell guards, had complained that low pay, high turnover, and poor training of staff were turning Texas prisons into powderkegs. Nagle told supporters at the rally at the Governor's Mansion that, "Someone would have to be killed", before TDCJ got the message. He was murdered two weeks later. Some Correctional Officers stated that corrupt C.O.s, "dirty bosses" were in league with prison gangs, and that they and their gang associates inside were involved with his murder. There was no physical evidence linking Pruett with the murder, which he claims he did not witness nor participate in. Nagle was killed as a result of a stabbing with a prison shank. Weeks after the stabbing, Correctional Officers at the McConnell Unit were indicted for colluding with inmates to traffick drugs. Eliseo Martinez, one of the Correctional Officers interviewed during the investigation into Nagle's death, was arrested in late January 2000 for transporting a package believed to have contained $60,000 in laundered drug profits for inmates. Martinez had said that Pruett told him that he possessed a homemade shank during the investigation.
In 2014, his postconviction writ of habeas corpus was denied, but Judges Alcala and Johnson filed a dissenting statement.
In April 2017, Pruett's appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. The ruling that stated that the inconclusive DNA results wouldn’t have had any effect on his conviction and death sentence had they been available during his 2002 trial. Judge Elsa Alcala wrote in a concurring opinion that, "It appears there may be significant problems with the evidence of guilt and with the imposition of the death penalty in this case", and that the, "Court should permit further litigation on appellant’s post-conviction challenges in which he has sought to undermine the validity of his guilt and death sentence".
Pruett has written for inmate blog, Minutes Before Six. Texas inmates are typically executed at 6pm in the Huntsville Unit.