Texas man faces execution on his birthday

HOUSTON, March 3 (UPI) -- Lawyers argued racial prejudice in a last-ditch attempt to save a condemned Texas prisoner from being executed on his birthday.

Kenneth Morris, is to be put to death Wednesday, which is also his 38th birthday, for the 1991 death of James Adams during a home-invasion robbery in suburban Houston.

The Houston Chronicle said Tuesday that the sentencing judge had called the execution date a "weird coincidence" when it was penciled in a few years ago.

Morris was one of three intruders whom Adams confronted in his home during a break-in while his wife hid in a closet. Morris contended that all three were drunk at the time and that the shooting began when one of his cohorts bumped into him.

The Chronicle said Morris' lawyers asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to cancel the execution on the grounds that Harris County prosecutors are 75 percent more likely to seek the death penalty against African-Americans, such as Morris, than whites.