Texas Executes Edward Busby Jr., 600th Inmate Since 1982 Despite Intellectual Disability Claims

A North Texas man experts for both prosecutors and defense attorneys deemed intellectually disabled became the 600th person executed in Texas since 1982. Edward Busby Jr. received lethal injection Thursday evening for killing a retired 77-year-old college professor.

Busby was pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m. local time at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. The execution came hours after a divided U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay on his disability claims. His attorneys mounted last-minute legal efforts after the high court acted.

Busby was convicted of suffocating Laura Lee Crane, a 77-year-old retired professor from Texas Christian University. Prosecutors said he abducted her from a grocery store parking lot in January 2004 and left her to suffocate in her car's trunk with duct tape wrapped around her face.

When the warden asked for a final statement, Busby appeared contrite. He repeatedly apologized and asked for forgiveness before the drugs took effect.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay last week to review Busby's intellectual disability claims. The Supreme Court overturned it Thursday at the request of the Texas Attorney General's Office. Three justices dissented, including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

"In capital cases, we rarely intervene to preserve life. I cannot understand the Court's rush to extinguish it, much less in the circumstances of this case," Jackson wrote.

Busby's lawyers sought another stay from the 5th Circuit after the Supreme Court ruling, but it was denied.

The Supreme Court in 2002 barred executing intellectually disabled people but allowed states discretion in defining qualifying disabilities. Busby's attorneys said he qualified because a defense expert and one hired by the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office both found him disabled.

The district attorney's office recommended reducing Busby's sentence to life in prison. The trial judge rejected those findings and upheld the death sentence in 2023.

On Wednesday, the district attorney's office said it requested Thursday's execution date because "under current case law, we believe Mr. Busby is not intellectually disabled. We agree with the Texas Attorney General's handling of the case."

The Texas Attorney General's Office called Busby's claims "meritless" and based on "conflicting evidence." It argued the claims were time-barred and prior similar appeals had failed. "Busby has litigated his (intellectual disability) claim many times over. He was not entitled to another bite at the apple," the office said.

In a concurring opinion, 5th Circuit Judge James Graves Jr. wrote: "The medical community's consensus here is that Busby is intellectually disabled and ineligible for execution."

Two prior execution dates for Busby had been delayed by courts.

Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, criticized the attorney general. "The merits of this case are significant," Bonowitz said. "How can anyone claim this is fair due process?"

Prosecutors said Busby and co-defendant Kathleen Latimer abducted Crane from a Fort Worth grocery store parking lot, put her in the trunk and drove around. She suffocated after they wrapped 23 feet (7 meters) of duct tape over her entire face, covering her mouth and nose.

Busby was arrested in Oklahoma City driving Crane's car. He led authorities to her body in Oklahoma, just north of the Texas border.