Execution date set for man convicted of killing 4 in Houston

HOUSTON (AP) — A man convicted of killing four people in Houston more than 30 years ago is set to be executed next year.

State District Judge Natalia Cornelio in Houston on Wednesday signed an order scheduling the execution of Arthur Brown Jr. for March 9. Cornelio’s order came the same day Texas executed Kosoul Chanthakoummane in another case.

Authorities have said Brown was part of a ring shuttling drugs from Texas to Alabama and that the June 1992 shootings, which also injured two others, were intended to eliminate a Houston couple who were middlemen in the deals.

One of Brown’s companions in the shootings, Marion Dudley, was executed in 2006. A third partner was sentenced to life in prison.

Brown had been scheduled for execution in 2013, but that was delayed to allow for the review of ballistics evidence in the case.

In 2017, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Brown’s request for a new trial or a chance at a new sentence over testimony by an expert who overstated proof that guns tied to Brown were connected to the fatal shootings.

In May, Cornelio delayed signing the execution order so Brown could find a new attorney to investigate if he is intellectually disabled and thus ineligible for execution.