(March 20, 2007)--A Dallas man with a history of robberies was executed Tuesday evening in Huntsville for murdering a convenience store owner during a 1997 holdup.

The execution of Charles Anthony Nealy, whose 43rd birthday would have been Friday, was briefly delayed while the US Supreme Court considered his 11th hour appeal Tuesday evening.

The high court declined to block the execution.

Nealy was the ninth death row inmate put to death this year in the nation's busiest capital punishment state.

Nealy had at least three earlier convictions for aggravated robbery when he was accused of murdering Jiten Bhakta.

He also had an extensive juvenile record for shoplifting, burglary and theft.

But Nealy insisted he was in Oklahoma the night of the Expressway Mart heist just south of downtown Dallas.

Bhakta and a clerk were shot dead that night.

In late appeals to the federal courts, Nealy's lawyers had alleged prosecutorial misconduct and false testimony put Nealy on death row.

Nealy's nephew, Claude Nealy, is serving life in prison for clerk Vijay Patel's killing.

Reginald Mitchell was sentenced to two years in prison for serving as the pair's getaway driver.

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