Texas decides not to execute inmate who wanted to kill his entire family

Texas will spare the life of a man who sought to murder his entire family, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday.

Just hours before Thomas Bartlett Whitaker, 38, was set to be executed by lethal injection, Abbott commuted his death sentence to life in prison. Whitaker was sentenced to death for masterminding the fatal shooting of his mother and 19-year-old brother, but the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles made the surprising move of advocating for clemency on Wednesday.

“In just over three years as Governor, I have allowed 30 executions. I have not granted a commutation of a death sentence until now,” Abbott, a Republican, said in a statement. “The murders of Mr. Whitaker’s mother and brother are reprehensible. The crime deserves severe punishment for the criminals who killed them. The recommendation of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, and my action on it, ensures Mr. Whitaker will never be released from prison.”

In 2003, Whitaker convinced a friend, Chris Brashear, to pretend to be an intruder and break into the Whitakers’ house while the family was out at dinner. When the family returned, Brashear shot Whitaker’s mother Tricia, his brother Kevin, and his father Kent.

Only Kent survived. But he’s since forgiven his son for his role in the murders, and repeatedly asked Texas to commute his sentence and allow him to live out the rest of his life in prison.

"Victims' rights should mean something in this state, even when the victim is asking for mercy and not vengeance," Kent Whitaker told reporters on Wednesday. His effort to save Bart led the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to vote unanimously in clemency on Wednesday, a recommendation the board last made in 2007.

Whitaker has waived his right to ask for parole. Brashear was also sentenced to life in prison.

Read: These 3 men are all scheduled to be executed tonight

Two other executions are still set to take place in the United States on Thursday night. Florida executed Eric Branch for the 1993 murder of Susan Morris, and Alabama plans to execute Doyle Hamm for the 1987 murder of Patrick Cunningham.