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A federal appeals court has temporarily halted Thursday’s scheduled execution of Texas death row inmate Edward Busby, citing concerns over his eligibility for capital punishment because of intellectual disability.

The 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is in place “pending further order” of the court.

Busby argued that a federal district court improperly denied the inmate’s request for funding to test him for intellectual disability. The appeal also provided two new tests from experts, including one provided by the state, that his lawyers argue prove Busby is intellectually disabled.

Defendants determined to be intellectually disabled are ineligible for execution under Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

Busby was sentenced to death out of Tarrant County in 2005 for the kidnapping and murder of 78-year-old Laura Crane after he robbed her and suffocated her by wrapping her face with........

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