MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) -- President Arnoldo Aleman has ordered
                  Nicaraguan diplomats in the United States to try to head off the execution of a
                  Nicaraguan convicted of killing a high school teacher.

                  Deputy Foreign Minister Jose Adan Guerra told reporters on Tuesday that if
                  court appeals for Bernardo Tercero fail, he would appeal to Texas Gov. George
                  W. Bush to find a way to reduce the sentence.

                  "The president has instructed us to make all moves possible to avoid that this
                  Nicaraguan be put to death," Guerra said.

                  A Houston jury on Friday convicted Tercero, 23, in the 1997 shooting death of
                  Robert Keith Berger.

                  Berger, 38, was shot moments after he and his 3-year-old daughter stepped into
                  a dry cleaners to drop off some clothes while his wife waited in the car. Both
                  witnessed the shooting.

                  Tercero admitted that he and an accomplice were there to rob the shop, but he
                  insisted the shooting occurred accidentally during a struggle after Berger had
                  grabbed his arm.

                  Defense attorney Gilbert Villarreal had appealed, complaining that attorneys
                  couldn't subpoena witnesses from Nicaragua to counter prosecution witnesses'
                  claims Tercero committed other crimes after the killing.

                  No execution date has been set yet for Tercero.

                  Texas has executed 232 people since 1982, when the state resumed carrying out
                  death sentences. Most have come during Bush's more than 5 1/2 years in office.

                  Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.