NEWS (3/​19/​20): Texas — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has for a sec­ond time delayed an impend­ing exe­cu­tion because of the coro­n­avirus health cri­sis. On March 19, the court issued a 60-day stay of exe­cu­tion to Tracy Beatty, whom the state had sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on March 25.

The court wrote: ​“We have deter­mined that the exe­cu­tion should be stayed at the present time in light of the cur­rent health cri­sis and the enor­mous resources need­ed to address that emer­gency.” The stay will expire after the 60-day peri­od, but pros­e­cu­tors will have to seek a new death war­rant before Beatty’s exe­cu­tion can be rescheduled.

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