Texas to Kill Man Convicted in Chopper-Theft Death A rapist who was on parole when prosecutors say he murdered a neighbor because he wanted the man's Harley Davidson motorcycle was hoping for a last-minute reprieve Wednesday, hours before his scheduled execution. Anthony Bartee, 55, had an appeal pending with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking further genetic testing of the crime scene evidence, and his attorneys filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in San Antonio on Wednesday over the same issues. He execution by lethal injection was scheduled for 6 p.m. Bartee was convicted of murdering his 37-year-old neighbor, David Cook, in 1996 and stealing his motorcycle while on parole after serving nearly 12 years in prison for raping two women. Bartee's attorneys, in their appeal, contend he is innocent and that evidence exists that still hasn't undergone DNA testing and that could exonerate him. They also argue that his trial lawyers failed him by not having the evidence tested. Bartee was granted a reprieve in February so that two strands of hair found in the victim's hand could undergo further DNA testing using more sophisticated techniques. The tests showed the hair was the victim's. Bartee's attorneys asked the high court to order testing on drinking glasses and cigarette butts found at the crime scene. "The testing done to date has not established the veracity of Mr. Bartee's claim that others were present at the victim's house the day of the murder," said David Dow, one of Bartee's attorneys. This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Anthony Bartee. Bartee, 55, faces execution Wednesday evening for the slaying of 37-year-old David Cook more than 15 years ago in San Antonio, Texas then stealing Cook's Harley Davidson. (AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice) Close Edward Marshall, an assistant Texas attorney general, contends in a court filing that the evidence isn't new and says Bartee has had "multiple rounds of DNA testing ... and there remains today no evidence upon which further forensic DNA testing could be conducted." Bartee's lawyers filed the appeal with the Supreme Court after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the state late Tuesday. Bartee was released from prison on the two aggravated rape convictions in May 1995. Fifteen months later, a neighbor heard gunshots from Cook's San Antonio home, then heard Cook's motorcycle start. When Cook failed to show up for work, relatives went to his home and found he'd been stabbed in the back, had his throat cut and was shot twice in the back of his head. His 9 mm pistol, determined to be the murder weapon, was missing. So was his prized motorcycle. Investigators determined that the night before the shooting, Bartee tried to hire someone to kill a man he identified as David. The day after the killing, he was seen with the red motorcycle and told people it was his. "According to the evidence, and the jury verdict, once he had murdered this guy, he went and showed the bike off and took a girlfriend to the coast," Joel Perez, one of Bartee's trial lawyers, said. There was just too much damning evidence. "David had something he wanted and he took it," Jill Mata, who prosecuted the capital murder case, recalled. Bartee denied any knowledge of Cook's death, but when confronted about having Cook's motorcycle he told detectives he had been working on it in Cook's garage and took off after hearing gunshots because he feared for his own safety. He blamed the slaying on two gang members he identified only as "Snake" and "Throw Down." Their existence never was confirmed. Prosecutors believe Bartee stabbed Cook and the shooting occurred in a struggle over the gun, which Cook kept at home for protection. Among those who testified during the punishment phase of his trial were the two women he raped. The execution would be the sixth this year in Texas. At least four other Texas prisoners have lethal injections scheduled in the coming months, including one in two weeks.