HUNTSVILLE (November 18, 2009)—Convicted Texas killer Danielle Simpson, 30, who volunteered for execution, but in recent weeks changed his mind was put to death Wednesday evening in the state’s death chamber in Huntsville.

Simpson won approval from a federal court that he was competent to decide to end his appeals, but then he had second thoughts and allowed lawyers to try to save him.

His attorneys contended he was mentally ill, but the argument didn’t sway the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to issue a stay Wednesday.

Simpson was sentenced to die for the murder of Geraldine Davidson, 84, a former schoolteacher and church organist who was abducted nearly 10 years ago during a burglary of her home in Palestine in East Texas.

Davidson was bound, hauled around for hours in the trunk of her car, beaten and thrown into a river near Palestine

Simpson was the 22nd Texas prisoner to receive a lethal injection this year.

Thursday, Robert Lee Thompson, 34, is scheduled for execution in Huntsville for his part in the shooting death of a Houston convenience store clerk during a robbery 13 years ago.

But in a rare move Wednesday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended his sentence be commuted to life.

Whether that happens is up to Gov. Rick Perry.

Tuesday, a judge blocked the execution of Gerald Eldridge, 45, after attorneys raised mental illness issues.

Eldridge was just hours away from execution Tuesday when U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal in Houston agreed to issue a 90-day stay.

Rosenthal said Eldridge's lawyers made a "substantial threshold showing of insanity" and should be given a hearing.

Eldridge was convicted of capital murder for a 1993 shooting spree that left his former girlfriend, Cynthia Bogany, 28, and her 6-year-old daughter, Chirissa dead.