EDWARD Busby is a death row inmate whose execution has been rescheduled multiple times.
Texas executed three people in 2020 and nine people in 2019, but has yet to execute anyone in 2021.
Who is Edward Busby?
Edward Busby Lee Jr. is a 49-year-old convicted killer.
The Texas man was sentenced to death in 2005 for a murder in a parking lot.
Busby was a “career criminal” with convictions for robbery, drug-related offenses and evading arrest.
Why is he due to be executed?
Busby is due to be executed for the murder of Laura Lee Crane, who was 77 at the time of her death.
Crane was killed in 2004 after she was abducted from a southwest Fort Worth store parking lot where she had gone to shop.
Busby wrapped Crane, who was a retired Texas Christian University professor, in 37 feet of duct tape, covering her nose and mouth and blocking her airways and causing her to suffocate to death.
He was arrested two days after Crane’s body was found in Davis, Oklahoma.
During Busby’s trial, prosecutors sought the death sentence for the man and said that he “richly deserved it.”
“He’s been to the Texas penitentiary twice,” said Greg Miller, an assistant Tarrant County district attorney at the time. “He’s been on probation. Going to prison, he didn’t learn much from it.”
The Tarrant County jury returned with a verdict against Busby after less than three hours of deliberations.
When will Edward Busby be executed?
Busby was set to be executed on February 10, 2021, but his death date was halted on February 3.
Lawyers for Busby 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.
Last year, Busby’s execution has been delayed by Texas courts following the coronavirus spread around the state.
Busby’s intellectual disability claim will be reviewed by a lower court.
How many people were executed in 2020?
There are sixteen people that were executed last year, the highest in a single year since 1896.
The Trump administration had been rushing to put inmates to death in a pandemic before Donald Trump left office.
The death penalty is legal in 31 states.
In recent years, New Mexico, Illinois, Connecticut, Maryland, New Hampshire and Colorado have legally abolished the death penalty.
Gary Alvord was the nation’s longest serving death row inmate.
He was sentenced to death on April 9, 1974, and spent 40 years behind bars before he died of natural causes in 2013.