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The Allan B. Polunsky Unit prison in Livingston, Texas, is seen on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (AP Photo\/Annie Mulligan)<\/p>\n
Annie Mulligan\/AP<\/p>\n
A federal court has granted Edward Busby, a Texas man slated to be put to death later this week<\/a>, a temporary stay of execution, according to documents reviewed Monday by The Dallas Morning News. \u00a0<\/p>\n Busby, 53, was condemned by a\u00a0Tarrant County jury<\/a> in 2005 for the abduction and murder of 77-year-old Laura Lee Crane<\/a>, a retired Texas Christian University education professor. He is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Thursday evening in Huntsville. \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued the stay Friday, court records show. The Texas Attorney General’s Office appealed the decision shortly after.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe welcome this action by the Fifth Circuit and urge the State to abandon its plans to execute Mr. Busby in light of the constitutional issues at stake,” Kristin Houl\u00e9 Cuellar, executive director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, wrote in a statement. \u00a0<\/p>\n The constitutional concerns begin with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling from 2002,\u00a0Atkins vs. Virginia, which determined it is cruel and unusual punishment to impose the death penalty on people with intellectual disabilities. But the court left it up to each state to determine what criteria makes a person intellectually disabled, writing \u201cnot all those who claim intellectual disability will be so impaired to fall within the prohibition.” \u00a0<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The ruling has spared Busby from execution once before. In 2021, Busby\u2019s second execution date (the first in 2020 was stayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic), was halted to allow two independent experts \u2014 one retained by the defense and the other by the prosecution \u2014 to assess Busby and review his claims. \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n According to copies of the assessments obtained by\u00a0The News, both experts concluded Busby\u2019s IQ scores and \u201cadaptive functioning impairments,\u201d or ability to manage standard, daily life tasks, met the full diagnostic criteria for intellectual disability.\u00a0His IQ scores, according to the assessments, have fallen within the range of 65 and 75, scores the prosecution\u2019s expert said showed \u201csubstantial intellectual deficits.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A Tarrant County district court judge in 2023 said Busby failed to “establish that his general intellectual functioning, as reflected in the multiple results of the IQ tests administered to him, is significantly subaverage.”\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe credible evidence, including evidence of his deficits, shows that Busby is capable of functioning adequately in his everyday world with an intellectual understanding and moral appreciation of his behavior wherever he is,\u201d the judge wrote. \u00a0<\/p>\n His third execution date was scheduled late last year.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In the appeal from the AG’s office filed Friday, the state argued Busby is not entitled to a stay because his previous appeals on the basis of an intellectual disability were denied, “and it does not allege innocence of his crime.”\u00a0<\/p>\n “The public has a strong interest in enforcement of Busby\u2019s\u00a0sentence,” the state’s filing reads. “His last-minute attempt to reraise a meritless claim is plainly\u00a0a dilatory effort to delay his sentence. …\u00a0Busby presents no reason to delay his execution date any\u00a0longer.”\u00a0<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Whether Busby’s stay will stand could rest, in part, with the U.S. Supreme Court,\u00a0which is currently weighing a similar case out of Alabama: Hamm vs. Smith.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In December, the court heard arguments about Joseph Smith, a man on Alabama’s death row whose IQ scores fall near the lower-fifth percentile of the population. The court is seeking to answer a critical question: Whether \u2014 and how \u2014 courts should consider multiple IQ scores in assessing an Atkins claim.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHamm is likely to confirm the constitutional rule we must apply in capital cases like this one,” the appeals court wrote of Busby\u2019s case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Allan B. Polunsky Unit prison in Livingston, Texas, is seen on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. 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