Texas court won’t stop execution of Lubbock woman’s killer

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The state’s top criminal court has refused to halt next week’s scheduled execution of a San Antonio man convicted of killing a 29-year-old Lubbock woman, stuffing her body into a suitcase and then throwing the luggage into the trash.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed an appeal Monday from lawyers for 37-year-old Rosendo Rodriguez III as improper and didn’t rule on merits of the arguments. Attorneys contended a medical examiner improperly testified at Rodriguez’s trial, that a recent settlement of a lawsuit involving the examiner wasn’t disclosed to them, that prosecutors engaged in misconduct and that Rodriguez is innocent.

He’s set for execution March 27 for the 2005 rape-slaying of Summer Baldwin. He also confessed to killing a 16-year-old Lubbock girl who’d been missing for more than a year.