High Court Refuses To Review Death Row Appeal

HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review an appeal from a Harris County man sent to death row at his request for the strangling of a female impersonator 14 years ago.

Attorneys for 43-year-old Richard Masterson contended his earlier lawyers were deficient and his confession to police about the death of Darin Shane Honeycutt, known by the stage name of Brandi Houston, was improper.

Masterson testified against his attorneys' advice at his 2002 trial, telling a Houston jury the 35-year-old Honeycutt died while the two were having sex. He also testified he'd be a future danger. That's one of the questions jurors deliberate to decide a death sentence.

The justices made no comment in their decision Monday.

Masterson doesn't yet have an execution date.