Quante

Anthony Haynes was 18 years old when he shot and killed an off-duty Houston police officer in front of the man's wife in 1998. Prosecutors said he later bragged about killing a cop - and told people he regretted leaving the wife alive. Texas put him on death row. His execution date was set. Anthony told anyone who would listen that God had told him he would not die on death row. On October 18, 2012, the US Supreme Court stopped his execution 2.5 hours before it was scheduled to happen. In the video below, cameras follow Anthony Haynes through his final hours on execution day - and capture the exact moment everything changed. The officer he shot was Paul Haines. Off duty. He identified himself as a cop and reached toward his back pocket for his badge. Anthony said from where he was standing it looked like a weapon. He fired one shot. His attorney took the case personally. Said Anthony was too young, too inexperienced with life to be sitting on death row. Said he hadn't lived enough to know what he was losing. Anthony said he didn't believe he was going to die. Not for a single second. Around 4pm, hours before the scheduled execution, the Supreme Court issued a stay. A last-minute appeal about ineffective counsel had reached the right desk at the right moment. The execution was stopped. Anthony sat there after hearing the news. Said he was sorry it happened. Said he wished it never had. But the relief in the room was visible to everyone except him - he said he already knew. God told him. Was Anthony Haynes a cold-blooded killer who dodged justice, or a teenager who made one fatal mistake that the system was about to make permanent?