Warden Mitchell watched the entire scene from the security monitor in his office, the image frozen on his screen: an eight-year-old girl’s face, solemn and certain.
He sat in silence for several minutes, his fingers steepled in front of his mouth, a habit he’d developed when faced with difficult decisions.
Then he reached for his phone and called the Texas Attorney General’s office.
“This is Warden Robert Mitchell at the Huntsville Unit,” he said, his voice steady but carrying the weight of what he was about to do. “I need to request a 72-hour stay of execution for Daniel Foster.”
The voice on the other end was sharp with surprise and frustration.
“On what grounds? The appeals process is exhausted, Warden. We’re forty-eight minutes from the final protocols.”
Mitchell closed his eyes.
