The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has stayed the execution of Rolando Ruiz, who was scheduled to be executed on August 31st. His appeal questioned the deficiency of his trial counsel and his initial habeas counsel. The appeal also questioned the constitutionality of executing him after more than 20 years after his conviction.
BuzzFeed News reports:
This marks the longest period Texas has gone without killing inmates since 2014, when no executions took place for nearly five months amid furor over Oklahoma’s botched execution of Clayton Lockett and legal challenges related to Texas’ drug secrecy. Even in Texas, in August alone now, three scheduled executions have been stayed — while the date for another was changed.
The execution is stayed until further order of the Court. This is the third stay granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals this month.
The article from BuzzFeed News is available here.