The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether a convicted killer should be spared execution in the Texas death chamber for the slaying of a 38-year-old woman in San Antonio almost two decades ago.
Rodrigo Hernandez faces lethal injection Thursday evening in Huntsville for abducting, raping and strangling Susan Verstegen. Her body was found dumped in a garbage can behind a San Antonio church in February 1994.
The slaying was tied to Hernandez eight years later after he provided a DNA sample as a parole requirement in Michigan where he was serving time for assault. DNA also ties him to a Michigan woman's slaying in 1991.
The 38-year-old Hernandez maintains his innocence, and his attorneys contend he's mentally impaired, had poor legal help previously, and his punishment should be blocked.
