News Brief — Fourth Texas Execution Put on Hold Because of Coronavirus Pandemic

NEWS (4/​6/​20) — Texas: A Texas tri­al court has resched­uled the exe­cu­tion of Billy Joe Wardlow from April 29, 2020 until July 8, 2020, the fourth exe­cu­tion in Texas that has been post­poned because of the coro­n­avirus pan­dem­ic. District Judge Angela Saucier grant­ed a motion filed by the Morris County District Attorney’s office to resched­ule the exe­cu­tion, rather than with­draw­ing the death war­rant as a defense motion had request­ed. If the court had with­drawn the war­rant, pros­e­cu­tors would have been required to seek a new death war­rant, a process that would have fur­ther delayed Wardlow’s execution.

Although Judge Saucier did not pro­vide a rea­son for resched­ul­ing the exe­cu­tion, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has stayed three oth­er exe­cu­tions and autho­rized low­er courts to resched­ule judi­cial pro­ceed­ings in light of the pub­lic health State of Disaster declared by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and the Morris County D.A.‘s motion invoked the coro­n­avirus cri­sis as grounds for the postponement.