Edward Busby’s execution temporarily halted over intellectual disability claims

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Published  May 13, 2026 10:50am CDT
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Edward Lee Busby Jr. Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice

The Brief

    • A federal appeals court has issued a temporary stay for Edward Busby, who was scheduled to be executed on Thursday for the 2004 murder of a retired TCU professor.
    • Busby’s lawyers argue that new testing proves he is intellectually disabled, which would make him ineligible for the death penalty under the 8th Amendment.
    • The stay remains in place pending a separate Supreme Court ruling, though Texas AG Ken Paxton has already filed a motion to move forward with the execution.

FORT WORTH, Texas - A federal appeals court temporarily stopped the execution of a Tarrant County man which was scheduled for Thursday night.

Edward Busby Execution

What's new:

Edward Busby’s attorneys filed an appeal, claiming they were denied funding to test him for an intellectual disability. The lawyers also claimed two new tests prove Busby has a disability.

Under the 8th Amendment, defendants determined to be intellectually disabled are ineligible for execution.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Busby a temporary stay, pending the outcome of a Supreme Court ruling in a separate case.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has also asked the Supreme Court to vacate the stay, arguing Busby’s claims are meritless.

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Retired TCU Professor Murdered

The backstory:

Busby was convicted in 2005 of killing Laura Lee Crane, a 77-year-old retired Texas Christian University professor.

According to police, Busby abducted Crane from a Fort Worth grocery store parking lot in January 2004. Investigators believe she was a random target and that robbery was the motive.

During the trial in 2005, prosecutors said Busby and his companion used Crane's credit cards and a blank check to rob her of more than $775 before driving Crane's car to Oklahoma with her in the trunk. 

Crane's body was found at the bottom of an embankment off Interstate 35 near Davis, Oklahoma. Crane's mouth was covered with duct tape, and she died from asphyxiation, according to an autopsy report.

Authorities were led to the body after Busby confessed, Fort Worth police have said.

Busby's companion, Kathleen "Kitty" Latimer, was sentenced to life in prison in February 2006. She is now 61 years old and is currently serving her sentence in a Texas prison. She could be eligible for parole in 2034. 

The Source: The information in this story comes from court records, the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office, and past news coverage.

Tarrant CountyCrime and Public Safety