Texas governor commutes death sentence in rare act

quote[exas Governor Rick Perry commuted the death sentence of a man hours before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday, a rare occurrence in America's most active capital punishment state.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles made the recommendation in the case of Kenneth Eugene Foster, who was convicted and sentenced to death for his role in the 1996 capital murder of Michael LaHood.

"Foster sought to have his death sentence commuted to a life sentence arguing that he did not shoot the victim, but merely drove the car ... that the actual killer was riding (in)," Perry's office said in a statement.

"After carefully considering the facts of this case, along with the recommendations from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, I believe the right and just decision is to commute Foster's sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment," Perry was quoted as saying.]