May 14, 2026
Appeals Court Halts Texas Man Scheduled To Be Executed TODAY, Will Texas Execute Him Anyway?
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RSS Feed Death penalty opponents are waiting to see if Texas will proceed with what they say would be an unconstitutional execution. Texas’ Attorney General has appealed to the nation’s highest court to lift a stay on Edward Busby’s scheduled execution for today. There are reports that Texas officials plan to move forward with the execution despite a federal appellate court ruling last week that put a temporary hold on it pending a Supreme Court decision on a separate case. The issue at hand, whether or not Edward Busby is intellectually disabled, which would make him ineligible for the death penalty. Busby was convicted in the 2004 robbery and murder of a retired Texas Christian University professor.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, the folks, it is Thursday, May fourteenth, and then on again, off again. Execution was scheduled for today in Texas. It's off again and we're standing by to see if Texas goes through with it anyway. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Roabes. This is shaving up to be a hell of a day from mister Edward Busby.
00:00:24
Speaker 2: It certainly is, and it's been a hell of a past few years because this is the third time his execution has been stayed, and now we are hearing in fact, reporters are waiting there in the state of Texas to see if the state of Texas will go through with his execution, despite the fact that Friday a federal appeals court put a temporary stay on his execution.
00:00:51
Speaker 1: Okay, so Robes, as we record this, we are hours away from his scheduled execution supposed to happen at six o'clock it would be Central time seven o'clock Eastern time. Today. We do not know what's going to happen, because, as you say, Robes, a stay was put in place. It's difficult to kind of explain this stay because it's not a matter of it doesn't even seem like the court wants to make the decision. Ultimately, they kind of punt it and to see what the Supreme Court is going to do, to see if they're going to punt it back. And it's I haven't quite heard a stay like this before.
00:01:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very and maybe to that point, the Texas Attorney General on Monday filed emotion with the US Supreme Court to say, yeah, we'd like to vacate that stay and we want to continue or pursue the execution scheduled for Thursday, May fourteenth, and so they were awaiting word from the Supreme Court, which they're not known to just respond when you'd like them to respond when they're ready to, if at all.
00:02:03
Speaker 1: And the thing, okay, and the other thing they're also Texas that court is waiting on a Supreme Court decision about a different case that might not come for months, correctly, Okay, all right, so this is where we are. Can we go back? This is not and I don't know if we've made this clear yet, bro, this is not a case. If people are fighting about the innocence of this man, that's not what we're talking about. That's not why this day has now been put in place. Absolutely not.
00:02:29
Speaker 2: This is all about his intellectual ability, and that is what we are talking about, because his attorneys have argued that their client was denied funding to test him, but that they went ahead and got two independent tests that prove he is in fact intellectually disabled. And that's significant because of our constitution.
00:02:53
Speaker 1: Yes, there have been there as precedent now that no, you cannot under the Eighth Amendment executes one who has a developmental a mental disability. And the question here, though, Robes, is what's the cutoff on that IQ test? Correct? That is what we're talking about.
00:03:11
Speaker 2: Correct, Because look this we mentioned he had two other stays. He was supposed to be executed in twenty twenty because of the pandemic. We know why that didn't happen.
00:03:20
Speaker 1: Wow, the pandemic saved his life, correct, time around.
00:03:23
Speaker 2: Bought him at least six more years. But then in twenty twenty one, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals did exactly what's happening right now. They put a stay on his execution because there were questions about his intellectual capabilities. But so it went back to a trial court. The trial court denied Busby's claim. That he proved that he was intellectually disabled, and so they lifted that stay and now that execution is set for today. But his attorneys are arguing once again because of this other case that the Supreme Court is ruling on, that ruling could affect his appeal about whether or not he's intellectually disabled.
00:04:07
Speaker 1: I actually followed all that. Okay, good, Yes, that is exactly right. So the other case happens to be one out of Alabama. I do believe, yes, So the question that the court is having to consider, Yes, there is an agreement or an understanding rogues on all sides that, yes, you can't execute someone it's cruel and unusual if they are disabled. But what is the IQ cut off for being disabled? And the question is do we take a what is it a holistic I think is the word they keep using a holistic approach after they've taken several tests, or you just take it off one. If they ever score above a certain thing, then they're not disabled. That is fascinating. I think the guy in Alabama scored a seventy seventy two, seventy four, seventy four to seventy five. It was a ranged So which one which score accounts, which which one counts?
00:05:02
Speaker 2: And look, because of all of this, the Austin Chronicle put it like this, death penalty opponents are waiting to see if the state will proceed with what opponents would call an unconstitutional execution, they claim. The Austin Chronicle claims Texas officials plan to put Edward Busby to death today despite this federal appeals court ruling that they need to temporarily put a stay on the execution.
00:05:31
Speaker 1: We have a literal standoff in Texas and somebody's life is at stick and the clock is ticking. Is Texas going to defy a court and say we don't give a damn if you put a stay in place, we gonna kill a man.
00:05:48
Speaker 2: I just got chills thinking about that and the implications of that. It seems like that is even too far for the state of Texas. And look this appeals court that made this ruling on Friday, It was a two to one vote. So and here is what the majority ruling said. They said, we must be certain that we apply the proper constitutional rule as to whether and how to determine intellectual disability before states may execute defendants for capital crimes, especially when it is a rule that the Supreme Court imminently will clarify imminently, could be July.
00:06:25
Speaker 1: Okay, what's okay, You're okay on these cases. Robes, I'm not considering and we always do robes. You have to stop the families of his victims, where are they right now? What are they thinking? What are they wanting? Are they having to look at the clock again thinking they were going to be traveling to the jail for this thing. Now they're on standby for what to do, They're going through this all over again. And yeah, you do think about them, But robes, when another life at at stake, can we really take a beat for a couple of months and see what what?
00:06:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an interest question because again, so often when we do these cases, it's about guilt or innocence. It's about whether or not they're actually guilty, if they if there is new evidence that should be introduced, or a new suspect, or there's none of that. Because Busby confessed to this crime period and in fact, he committed this crime with an accomplice, and she, Kathleen Kitty Latimer, was sentenced to life in prison for her role. So this is not an issue of whether or not he did it or not, it's whether or not he had the intellectual capability to know the difference between right and wrong or is it just because it's cruel and unusual to actually not to punish or convict somebody for a heinous crime, but to actually put them to death for said crime.
00:07:47
Speaker 1: And this is how we determine a test. Here's an IQ test, and we'll put your averages together. That really is what the Supreme Court is deciding, is that the way we're going to determine whether or not we execut you somebody. And there's a disproportional amount of people they will tell you in prison on death row who are who would score low on these aptitude tests on these intelligence tests. Right, So I'm glad we're looking into this, but I don't want to look into it after the guys did.
00:08:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a bizarre Texas standoff. And look, is there any possibility obviously if the state Attorney General on Monday immediately filed this ask to vacate this day so that they could proceed with the planned execution tonight, obviously he thinks there's a chance that they're going to hear back from the Supreme Court, they'll get some sort of understanding as to whether or not they can proceed despite this Federal Court of Appeals.
00:08:43
Speaker 1: And tell me, what's the official word from Texas? Are they saying they're moving forward tonight?
00:08:47
Speaker 2: They I have not seen anywhere where they have made that public statement, but I have seen local reporting suggesting that Texas officials are still continuing ahead with their plan. Whether or not that's happening or not, it's really unclear. But this is a potential Texas standoff taking shape throughout the day and not clear when we're going to get word? And what what is Edward Busby being told by his attorneys?
00:09:10
Speaker 1: What is he hearing? This is? I've never quite seen this happen before. Don't they have to go through the motions? Don't they have to prepare all day? Yes? I would imagine word comes. I guess that could include going up until five o'clock, six o'clock, getting him in the room, getting things prepared.
00:09:32
Speaker 2: Who will they Will they have his last meal? Will they walk him down? Will he be strapped to the gurney?
00:09:38
Speaker 1: Will? I mean?
00:09:39
Speaker 2: Are they Usually you're waiting for the governor to call and put a stay this time, you'd be waiting word from the Supreme Court whether or not they can go through with this. It is a remarkable potential scenario unfolding right now in Texas.
00:09:54
Speaker 1: That is so interesting. You're waiting usually on the phone, the ring to save your life. Tonight of that phone rings, He's dead, right, that's a total flip. I didn't see your Are they going to strap him in? And wait?
00:10:06
Speaker 2: It's really unclear right now. I can't imagine it would get to that point, but you know, you never know.
00:10:12
Speaker 1: That is the point.
00:10:13
Speaker 2: But when we come back, we're going to talk about the crime itself, who Edward Busby murdered, why he is sitting on death row, and why he's been there for so many years. And welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:10:35
Speaker 1: We are a waiting word about whether.
00:10:37
Speaker 2: Or not a planned execution in the state of Texas will in fact take place at six pm local time there in Texas. We're talking about Edward Busby. He is on death row for a heinous crime killing a seventy seven year old woman. She was a retired Texas Christian University professor, and he has been on death row for decades now. At issue is whether or not his intellectual capacity meets our constitutional standards. Was he intellectually disabled? Is he intellectually disabled? And he has had a stay? This is his third stay of execution. It's been a big back and forth about how courts determine whether or not a person constitutionally can be put to death.
00:11:27
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess this will settle it eventually, Robes when they decide out of that Alabama case. But I don't know. If I don't know, Robes, do you retro what will we feel? We don't know how the court's going to rule, but Robes, this is one of the I haven't heard one quite like this, Texas man. No, I just haven't heard a quite case quite like this in which we are They actually just want to stand by, will wait until they decide on another case. They're not even asking them to decide. That's it. They're not even asking them to decide their particular case. And I guess that's the part. Everyone's punting.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: Everyone's kicking the can and Texas saying, you know, we don't feel like waiting. We've been waiting for long enough. This murder happened in two thousand and four. We're now twenty twenty six, and he was supposed to be executed in twenty twenty. So here is where we are, and he was convicted of killing guests, the seventy seven year old woman. Here is what happened, what unfolded. He abducted her from a Fort Worth grocery store parking lot and with the intent to rob her, and so Busby and this companion of his who again is serving a life sentence, Kitty Latimer for her role in all of this.
00:12:45
Speaker 1: But they put her through her in the trunk.
00:12:47
Speaker 2: Of her own car, used her vehicle, took her credit cards and a bank check. I think they ended up stealing less than one thousand dollars from this poor woman. But they eventually found her body at the bottom of an embankment. Her mouth had been covered with duct tape and her official cause of death with the autopsy was asphyxiation. So this was just a brutal, horrific, unnecessary crime motivated by money and greed. And Buzby confessed to it all pretty quickly. And look, Kitty was life in prison. He got the death penalty, and now he is We are waiting word to see whether or not he will in fact be executed tonight. But it's of note, they said, this is really unusual. Texas obviously known for its death penalty. It's prowess, I guess, or its willingness to follow through on these death penalty cases. But David Wood and Robert Robertson both were set on death row in the state of Texas. Both of them had their executions stayed. Their cases are now in trial court for reviews. So this would be the third in about a twelve month period of time. If this stay holds that Texas tried to execute someone and there was some intervention by an appellate court that stopped it.
00:14:00
Speaker 1: Meanwhile Florida keeps moving ahead with all of that, this would be This would have been the eleven and twelve we're scheduled for today. Yeah, to be eleventh and twelve the.
00:14:10
Speaker 2: Correct and this would be the sixth. Everyone's making note of this number. I guess it's just because it's a round number. But if in fact we see Buzzby executed tonight, he will be the six hundredth person executed in the state of Texas since it was reinstated in the seventies. So we will keep our eye on the State of Texas for you as always, we just wanted to put that on your radar. Thank you as always for listening to us every one. I'm Amy Roboch alongside TJ.
00:14:35
Speaker 1: Holmes. We will talk to you soon
Speaker 1: Hey, the folks, it is Thursday, May fourteenth, and then on again, off again. Execution was scheduled for today in Texas. It's off again and we're standing by to see if Texas goes through with it anyway. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Roabes. This is shaving up to be a hell of a day from mister Edward Busby.
00:00:24
Speaker 2: It certainly is, and it's been a hell of a past few years because this is the third time his execution has been stayed, and now we are hearing in fact, reporters are waiting there in the state of Texas to see if the state of Texas will go through with his execution, despite the fact that Friday a federal appeals court put a temporary stay on his execution.
00:00:51
Speaker 1: Okay, so Robes, as we record this, we are hours away from his scheduled execution supposed to happen at six o'clock it would be Central time seven o'clock Eastern time. Today. We do not know what's going to happen, because, as you say, Robes, a stay was put in place. It's difficult to kind of explain this stay because it's not a matter of it doesn't even seem like the court wants to make the decision. Ultimately, they kind of punt it and to see what the Supreme Court is going to do, to see if they're going to punt it back. And it's I haven't quite heard a stay like this before.
00:01:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very and maybe to that point, the Texas Attorney General on Monday filed emotion with the US Supreme Court to say, yeah, we'd like to vacate that stay and we want to continue or pursue the execution scheduled for Thursday, May fourteenth, and so they were awaiting word from the Supreme Court, which they're not known to just respond when you'd like them to respond when they're ready to, if at all.
00:02:03
Speaker 1: And the thing, okay, and the other thing they're also Texas that court is waiting on a Supreme Court decision about a different case that might not come for months, correctly, Okay, all right, so this is where we are. Can we go back? This is not and I don't know if we've made this clear yet, bro, this is not a case. If people are fighting about the innocence of this man, that's not what we're talking about. That's not why this day has now been put in place. Absolutely not.
00:02:29
Speaker 2: This is all about his intellectual ability, and that is what we are talking about, because his attorneys have argued that their client was denied funding to test him, but that they went ahead and got two independent tests that prove he is in fact intellectually disabled. And that's significant because of our constitution.
00:02:53
Speaker 1: Yes, there have been there as precedent now that no, you cannot under the Eighth Amendment executes one who has a developmental a mental disability. And the question here, though, Robes, is what's the cutoff on that IQ test? Correct? That is what we're talking about.
00:03:11
Speaker 2: Correct, Because look this we mentioned he had two other stays. He was supposed to be executed in twenty twenty because of the pandemic. We know why that didn't happen.
00:03:20
Speaker 1: Wow, the pandemic saved his life, correct, time around.
00:03:23
Speaker 2: Bought him at least six more years. But then in twenty twenty one, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals did exactly what's happening right now. They put a stay on his execution because there were questions about his intellectual capabilities. But so it went back to a trial court. The trial court denied Busby's claim. That he proved that he was intellectually disabled, and so they lifted that stay and now that execution is set for today. But his attorneys are arguing once again because of this other case that the Supreme Court is ruling on, that ruling could affect his appeal about whether or not he's intellectually disabled.
00:04:07
Speaker 1: I actually followed all that. Okay, good, Yes, that is exactly right. So the other case happens to be one out of Alabama. I do believe, yes, So the question that the court is having to consider, Yes, there is an agreement or an understanding rogues on all sides that, yes, you can't execute someone it's cruel and unusual if they are disabled. But what is the IQ cut off for being disabled? And the question is do we take a what is it a holistic I think is the word they keep using a holistic approach after they've taken several tests, or you just take it off one. If they ever score above a certain thing, then they're not disabled. That is fascinating. I think the guy in Alabama scored a seventy seventy two, seventy four, seventy four to seventy five. It was a ranged So which one which score accounts, which which one counts?
00:05:02
Speaker 2: And look, because of all of this, the Austin Chronicle put it like this, death penalty opponents are waiting to see if the state will proceed with what opponents would call an unconstitutional execution, they claim. The Austin Chronicle claims Texas officials plan to put Edward Busby to death today despite this federal appeals court ruling that they need to temporarily put a stay on the execution.
00:05:31
Speaker 1: We have a literal standoff in Texas and somebody's life is at stick and the clock is ticking. Is Texas going to defy a court and say we don't give a damn if you put a stay in place, we gonna kill a man.
00:05:48
Speaker 2: I just got chills thinking about that and the implications of that. It seems like that is even too far for the state of Texas. And look this appeals court that made this ruling on Friday, It was a two to one vote. So and here is what the majority ruling said. They said, we must be certain that we apply the proper constitutional rule as to whether and how to determine intellectual disability before states may execute defendants for capital crimes, especially when it is a rule that the Supreme Court imminently will clarify imminently, could be July.
00:06:25
Speaker 1: Okay, what's okay, You're okay on these cases. Robes, I'm not considering and we always do robes. You have to stop the families of his victims, where are they right now? What are they thinking? What are they wanting? Are they having to look at the clock again thinking they were going to be traveling to the jail for this thing. Now they're on standby for what to do, They're going through this all over again. And yeah, you do think about them, But robes, when another life at at stake, can we really take a beat for a couple of months and see what what?
00:06:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an interest question because again, so often when we do these cases, it's about guilt or innocence. It's about whether or not they're actually guilty, if they if there is new evidence that should be introduced, or a new suspect, or there's none of that. Because Busby confessed to this crime period and in fact, he committed this crime with an accomplice, and she, Kathleen Kitty Latimer, was sentenced to life in prison for her role. So this is not an issue of whether or not he did it or not, it's whether or not he had the intellectual capability to know the difference between right and wrong or is it just because it's cruel and unusual to actually not to punish or convict somebody for a heinous crime, but to actually put them to death for said crime.
00:07:47
Speaker 1: And this is how we determine a test. Here's an IQ test, and we'll put your averages together. That really is what the Supreme Court is deciding, is that the way we're going to determine whether or not we execut you somebody. And there's a disproportional amount of people they will tell you in prison on death row who are who would score low on these aptitude tests on these intelligence tests. Right, So I'm glad we're looking into this, but I don't want to look into it after the guys did.
00:08:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a bizarre Texas standoff. And look, is there any possibility obviously if the state Attorney General on Monday immediately filed this ask to vacate this day so that they could proceed with the planned execution tonight, obviously he thinks there's a chance that they're going to hear back from the Supreme Court, they'll get some sort of understanding as to whether or not they can proceed despite this Federal Court of Appeals.
00:08:43
Speaker 1: And tell me, what's the official word from Texas? Are they saying they're moving forward tonight?
00:08:47
Speaker 2: They I have not seen anywhere where they have made that public statement, but I have seen local reporting suggesting that Texas officials are still continuing ahead with their plan. Whether or not that's happening or not, it's really unclear. But this is a potential Texas standoff taking shape throughout the day and not clear when we're going to get word? And what what is Edward Busby being told by his attorneys?
00:09:10
Speaker 1: What is he hearing? This is? I've never quite seen this happen before. Don't they have to go through the motions? Don't they have to prepare all day? Yes? I would imagine word comes. I guess that could include going up until five o'clock, six o'clock, getting him in the room, getting things prepared.
00:09:32
Speaker 2: Who will they Will they have his last meal? Will they walk him down? Will he be strapped to the gurney?
00:09:38
Speaker 1: Will? I mean?
00:09:39
Speaker 2: Are they Usually you're waiting for the governor to call and put a stay this time, you'd be waiting word from the Supreme Court whether or not they can go through with this. It is a remarkable potential scenario unfolding right now in Texas.
00:09:54
Speaker 1: That is so interesting. You're waiting usually on the phone, the ring to save your life. Tonight of that phone rings, He's dead, right, that's a total flip. I didn't see your Are they going to strap him in? And wait?
00:10:06
Speaker 2: It's really unclear right now. I can't imagine it would get to that point, but you know, you never know.
00:10:12
Speaker 1: That is the point.
00:10:13
Speaker 2: But when we come back, we're going to talk about the crime itself, who Edward Busby murdered, why he is sitting on death row, and why he's been there for so many years. And welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:10:35
Speaker 1: We are a waiting word about whether.
00:10:37
Speaker 2: Or not a planned execution in the state of Texas will in fact take place at six pm local time there in Texas. We're talking about Edward Busby. He is on death row for a heinous crime killing a seventy seven year old woman. She was a retired Texas Christian University professor, and he has been on death row for decades now. At issue is whether or not his intellectual capacity meets our constitutional standards. Was he intellectually disabled? Is he intellectually disabled? And he has had a stay? This is his third stay of execution. It's been a big back and forth about how courts determine whether or not a person constitutionally can be put to death.
00:11:27
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess this will settle it eventually, Robes when they decide out of that Alabama case. But I don't know. If I don't know, Robes, do you retro what will we feel? We don't know how the court's going to rule, but Robes, this is one of the I haven't heard one quite like this, Texas man. No, I just haven't heard a quite case quite like this in which we are They actually just want to stand by, will wait until they decide on another case. They're not even asking them to decide. That's it. They're not even asking them to decide their particular case. And I guess that's the part. Everyone's punting.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: Everyone's kicking the can and Texas saying, you know, we don't feel like waiting. We've been waiting for long enough. This murder happened in two thousand and four. We're now twenty twenty six, and he was supposed to be executed in twenty twenty. So here is where we are, and he was convicted of killing guests, the seventy seven year old woman. Here is what happened, what unfolded. He abducted her from a Fort Worth grocery store parking lot and with the intent to rob her, and so Busby and this companion of his who again is serving a life sentence, Kitty Latimer for her role in all of this.
00:12:45
Speaker 1: But they put her through her in the trunk.
00:12:47
Speaker 2: Of her own car, used her vehicle, took her credit cards and a bank check. I think they ended up stealing less than one thousand dollars from this poor woman. But they eventually found her body at the bottom of an embankment. Her mouth had been covered with duct tape and her official cause of death with the autopsy was asphyxiation. So this was just a brutal, horrific, unnecessary crime motivated by money and greed. And Buzby confessed to it all pretty quickly. And look, Kitty was life in prison. He got the death penalty, and now he is We are waiting word to see whether or not he will in fact be executed tonight. But it's of note, they said, this is really unusual. Texas obviously known for its death penalty. It's prowess, I guess, or its willingness to follow through on these death penalty cases. But David Wood and Robert Robertson both were set on death row in the state of Texas. Both of them had their executions stayed. Their cases are now in trial court for reviews. So this would be the third in about a twelve month period of time. If this stay holds that Texas tried to execute someone and there was some intervention by an appellate court that stopped it.
00:14:00
Speaker 1: Meanwhile Florida keeps moving ahead with all of that, this would be This would have been the eleven and twelve we're scheduled for today. Yeah, to be eleventh and twelve the.
00:14:10
Speaker 2: Correct and this would be the sixth. Everyone's making note of this number. I guess it's just because it's a round number. But if in fact we see Buzzby executed tonight, he will be the six hundredth person executed in the state of Texas since it was reinstated in the seventies. So we will keep our eye on the State of Texas for you as always, we just wanted to put that on your radar. Thank you as always for listening to us every one. I'm Amy Roboch alongside TJ.
00:14:35
Speaker 1: Holmes. We will talk to you soon