After two reprieves, Sonnier due for death chamber

A condemned Louisiana native once again is set to enter Texas' death chamber on Wednesday evening for two 1991 murders.
Derrick Sonnier, 40, has received two reprieves — the most recent one six weeks ago when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay just minutes before his sentence was to be carried out.

His appeals subsequently were dismissed and no new court filings are pending that might trigger another delay, a spokeswoman for the Texas Attorney General's Office said.

Sonnier, of Sulphur, La., was convicted for the Sept. 16, 1991 slayings of Melody Flowers and her 2-year-old son, Patrick, in their apartment in Humble.

Sonnier, who lived with his girlfriend in the same apartment complex as Flowers, was said to have stalked the woman months before the murders.

He has maintained his innocence, although residents and evidence found in his apartment linked him to the crime.