A federal appeals court delayed the execution of Texas death row inmate Robert James Campbell two hours before he was scheduled to receive a lethal injection Tuesday evening.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided that Campbell, 41, should have more time to press his argument that a low IQ makes him ineligible for capital punishment.
Campbell's lawyer called his death sentence to be reduced to life in prison, while the family of the woman he was convicted of killing expressed sadness and anger at the reprieve.
'It's a joke,' said Israel Santana, cousin of Alejandra Rendon, 20, who was abducted, robbed, raped and shot in the back in 1991.
'He's intelligent enough to commit a crime. He's intelligent enough to tell someone to run. He's intelligent enough to pull a trigger.'
Santana and other family members were in a pre-execution 'orientation' at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville, preparing to witness the execution, when they got the news.
'I felt my heart hit my stomach. It's physically and emotionally draining,' he said.
The appeals court faulted the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for failing to turn over the results of intelligence tests to Campbell's lawyer.
'It is regrettable that we are now reviewing evidence of intellectual disability at the eleventh hour before Campbell's scheduled execution,' the court wrote.
'However, from the record before us, it appears that we cannot fault Campbell or his attorneys, present or past, for the delay.'
Earlier, the same court shot down Campbell's challenge to the state's execution-drug secrecy policy, and he appealed that to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Campbell had been set to become the first U.S. prisoner put to death since the badly botched lethal injection of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma late last month.
Lockett's execution was halted after he appeared to regain consciousness and struggle in pain, but he died anyway.
The debacle has reignited debate over lethal injections - but Oklahoma uses different drugs than Texas, and prison officials said a vein collapse, and not the chemicals themselves, were to blame.
Campbell, 41, is on death row for the 1991 rape and murder of bank teller Alejandra Rendon, 20. Her family said the 11th hour legal wrangling is upsetting.
First published May 13 2014, 7:21 AM
Tracy Connor is a senior writer for NBC News. She started this role in December, 2012. Connor is responsible for reporting and writing breaking news, features and enterprise stories for NBCNews.com. Connor joined NBC News from the New York Daily News, where she was a senior writer covering a broad range of news and supervising the health and immigration beats. Prior to that she was an assistant city editor who oversaw breaking news and the courts and entertainment beats.Earlier, Connor was a staff writer at the New York Post, United Press International and Brooklyn Paper Publications.Connor has won numerous awards from journalism organizations including the Deadline Club and the New York Press Club.She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.
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