Texas to execute ex-cop for hiring 2 people to kill wife

By JUAN A. LOZANO
Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — A former suburban Houston police officer is set to be executed for hiring two people to kill his estranged wife nearly 30 years ago. Robert Fratta was to receive a lethal injection Tuesday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the November 1994 fatal shooting of his wife, Farah, amid a contentious divorce and custody fight for their three children. Prosecutors say Fratta organized the murder-for-hire plot in which a middleman hired the shooter. Farah Fratta was shot in her home’s garage. Robert Fratta’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his execution over claims that prosecutors withheld evidence.