HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A judge has for now halted the scheduled execution of a man known as the Houston area's "Tourniquet Killer."
Anthony Allen Shore was to be put to death Wednesday evening for the killings of four female victims, but the judge withdrew the execution warrant just hours before Shore was set to die. The judge was responding to request from prosecutors who want to further investigate an alleged scheme in which Shore says another death row inmate asked him to confess to his crime.
Shore's execution is now set for Jan. 18.
Montgomery County District Attorney Bret Ligon has said that investigators from his office spoke with Shore on Tuesday and he told them inmate Larry Swearingen asked him to take the blame for the 1998 killing of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter.
Swearingen was convicted of her slaying and is scheduled to be executed for it on Nov. 16.
