What was celebrated by one family meant more sorrow for the family of Michael LaHood, Jr.

The 25-year-old LaHood was shot and killed during a robbery attempt back in 1996.

The triggerman was executed for the crime. The getaway driver Kenneth Foster was supposed to die Thursday night. 

But seven hours before the execution, a reprieve. Kenneth's father delivered the news to his son on death row.

 “I said, ‘Six to one the (parole) board ruled in your favor,’ he was smiling. His wife was visiting she jumped up and started crying,” said Kenneth Foster, Sr.

And, Governor Rick Perry approved the parole boards vote. It was an unusual move for the governor to commute a sentence so close to an execution.

“The last death penalty case to be commuted was the Henry Lee, commuted by then Governor Bush,” said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons.

This case drew national attention from people like former president Jimmy Carter and actress Susan Sarandon.

“We think that Gov. Perry folded to political pressure. His actions today are inconsistent today than during his 10 year tenure of being in office,” said Nico LaHood, the victim’s brother.

While the decision brought Foster supporters a sense of triumph, he's through with death row and he can live his life in peace.

A different emotion in the LaHood family.

"I am concerned about Texas law that allows capital murder defendants to be tried simultaneously, and it is an issue I think the legislature should examine,” Perry said in a statement issued after the commutation.