Dallas Man Facing Death Tuesday For 1997 Robbery-Slaying

Monday, March 19th 2007, 1:49 pm

By: News On 6

LIVINGSTON, Texas (AP) _ A Dallas man scheduled to die Tuesday night for the 1997 killing of two convenience store clerks in Texas claims from death row that he was in Oklahoma at the time of the murders.

Charles Anthony Nealy is scheduled to die Tuesday at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville. Nealy and his nephew were convicted of killing Expressway Mart owner Jiten Bhakta and employee Vijay Patel during the August 1997 robbery just south of downtown Dallas.

But in an interview with the Associated Press, Nealy claims he was in Ardmore, Oklahoma, at the time of the killing.

He says he was an easy target because he was on parole at the time for robbery.

A third man charged in the case testified he was with the pair on the evening of the killing and waited outside in a car as Nealy and his nephew went into the store.