 Barbee confessed to police he killed Underwood and her son but later recanted. Barbee said the confession was coerced and has since maintained he is innocent and was framed by his business partner. His trial, including sentencing, took less than three days to complete in February 2006. Barbee had sought to stop his execution over claims of religious freedom violations and indifference to his medical needs - but the US Supreme Court on Wednesday declined an appeal from his lawyers. His lawyers argued his religious rights were being violated because the state prison system, in the wake of a ruling by the high court on what spiritual advisers can do while in the execution chamber, did not create a written policy on the issue. In March, the US Supreme Court said states must accommodate the wis){kind=link}
Stephen Barbee, 55, was given a lethal injection at the Texas state penitentiary in Huntsville for the murders of Lisa Underwood, 34, and her seven-year-old son Jayden
A married man who suffocated his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her seven-year-old son and buried them in a shallow grave has been executed with a lethal injection injection in Texas.
Stephen Barbee, 55, was condemned for the February 2005 deaths of Lisa Underwood, 34, and her son Jayden who were killed at their home in Fort Worth.
The death row inmate was given a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville and is the second execution of the day in the US with Murray Hooper, 76, also put to death in Arizona for murdering two people in 1980.
Prosecutors said Barbee killed his ex-girlfriend and her son because he didn’t want his wife to know Underwood was seven months pregnant, presumably by him.