diff --git a/bin/BFT-SMaRt.jar b/bin/BFT-SMaRt.jar
index 2dc5a4d8421769551c85e09fd0631ae36cc3993e..d257b245baa5ec652ba4c54ac79dddd7d83f61e2 100644
Binary files a/bin/BFT-SMaRt.jar and b/bin/BFT-SMaRt.jar differ
diff --git a/src/bftsmart/tom/ServiceProxy.java b/src/bftsmart/tom/ServiceProxy.java
index ff12a520f3b1ab21ad3c84c9664afa8ae5dc6551..55d70c1e4bec59b4fbab0c9d97849e2f5e52b633 100644
--- a/src/bftsmart/tom/ServiceProxy.java
+++ b/src/bftsmart/tom/ServiceProxy.java
@@ -172,6 +172,9 @@ public class ServiceProxy extends TOMSender {
 	 * @return The reply from the replicas related to request
 	 */
 	public byte[] invoke(byte[] request, TOMMessageType reqType) {
+            
+            try {
+                
 		canSendLock.lock();
 
 		// Clean all statefull data to prepare for receiving next replies
@@ -293,8 +296,12 @@ public class ServiceProxy extends TOMSender {
 		}
 		//******* EDUARDO END **************//
 
-		canSendLock.unlock();
 		return ret;
+        
+            } finally {
+                                    
+                canSendLock.unlock(); //always release lock
+            }
 	}
 
 	//******* EDUARDO BEGIN **************//