On Death Row: Robert Fratta (2013)

Director:
Werner Herzog

"Internationally renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog explores what it's like to face death by speaking to prisoners who are on death row. This episode Werner meets Robert Fratta, who was a public safety officer in Missouri City, Texas, but is now facing the death penalty for organising the murder of his ex-wife. Fratta has been convicted of hiring two hitmen to kill his estranged wife in 1994. A jury in Houston convicted 52-year-old Robert Fratta of capital murder -- in his retrial.

Prosecutors say Fratta was motivated by money and a custody battle, over the couple's three children, during the divorce. The life-or-death sentencing phase begins May 26. It's the second time Fratta was convicted for his role in the shooting death of Farah Fratta, whose body was found in the garage of her home.

He originally was sentenced to death. Fratta was granted a retrial after jailhouse confessions of his co-conspirators were ruled inadmissible. The man named as the triggerman, Howard Paul Guidry, was convicted and is on death row. Joseph Prystash, who prosecutors say Fratta enlisted to hire Guidry, is also on death row."