HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) – Gov. Rick Perry blocked the execution of a woman two hours before she was to go to her death Wednesday so that her lawyers can conduct new tests on evidence in the 17-year-old murder case.

Frances Newton, 39, was convicted of killing her husband and two young children. She would have been the first black woman and the fourth female put to death in Texas since the Civil War. She denied any involvement in the slayings.

The governor granted her a four-month reprieve a day after the Texas parole board, in a rare step, recommended it. The board usually turns aside requests from condemned prisoners.

“I see no evidence of innocence,” Perry said in a statement. “However, I am granting the additional time to allow the courts the opportunity to order a retesting of gunpowder residue on the skirt the defendant wore at the time of the murders and of the gun used in the murders.

“Although this evidence was evaluated by the jury and appellate courts, new technology is available for testing gunpowder residue.”

Prosecutors said Newton’s claims contained nothing new.

“Obviously, our office did not think it was necessary to have a 120-day reprieve. But we will go forward with the case just as any other,” said Roe Wilson, a Harris County prosecutor.

In May, the parole board recommended the life of a mentally ill convicted murderer be spared. Perry rejected the recommendation, and the inmate was executed.

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