Texas Executes Edward Busby Jr. for 2004 Murder of Retired Professor, Becoming State’s 600th Execution Since 1982

Edward Busby Jr. m. local time on Thursday at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. The execution made him the 600th person put to death in the state since it resumed the death penalty in 1982.

It was also the fourth execution this year in Texas and the 12th nationwide. U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that had issued the stay last week to review his claims of intellectual disability.

The Supreme Court acted at the request of the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Busby’s lawyers asked the 5th Circuit for an 11th-hour stay later Thursday evening but were quickly denied. Two other prior execution dates for Busby had been delayed by the courts.

The Supreme Court in 2002 barred the execution of intellectually disabled people while giving states some discretion to decide how to determine such disabilities. Experts for both prosecutors and defense attorneys said Edward Busby Jr. was intellectually disabled.

A defense expert and one hired by the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office both found he was intellectually disabled. The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office had previously recommended that Busby’s sentence be reduced to life in prison. The trial judge in Busby’s case disagreed with the findings of intellectual disability and upheld the death sentence in 2023.

The district attorney's office stated Wednesday that it requested Thursday's execution date because it believed that under current law Busby was not intellectually disabled. The Texas Attorney General’s Office argued that Busby’s claims of intellectual disability are meritless and based on conflicting evidence.