Texas high court stays execution of man, one week before he was set to die
Texas’ top criminal court halted a man’s execution Wednesday, exactly one week before he was scheduled to die.
Lawyers for Edward Busby, 48, had appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, arguing Busby’s execution would be illegal because he is mentally disabled, the Marshall Project reported.
Busby was convicted of killing Laura Crane, 77, in January 2004 by stuffing her in a car trunk and duct taping her mouth shut, resulting in her suffocating to death.
Crane, a retired professor at Texas Christian University, was abducted in Fort Worth, and police found her body in Oklahoma.
Busby’s prior appeals were rejected, according to court documents obtained by the Marshall Project, but his last ditch appeal for a stay was granted. Busby’s intellectual disability claim will be reviewed by a lower court.
Texas executed three people in 2020 and nine people in 2019. The state has yet to execute anyone in 2021.
Busby’s execution was previously set for May 6, 2020, but was rescheduled because of the coronavirus pandemic. It was planned for Feb. 10 until Wednesday’s court ruling.
