The Court of Criminal Appeals then ruled the judge acted improperly but did not reinstate the warrant, The Austin American-Statesman reported.

Charles Dean Hood, 38, was scheduled to die Tuesday evening for killing Ronald Williamson, the owner of a topless bar, and Traci Wallace, a former dancer at the bar who was Williamson's girlfriend, at their home in Plano in 1989. Hood was a bouncer at the bar.

The district judge ruled Hood's claim that he is entitled to a full hearing on rumors that his trial judge was having an affair with the prosecutor have merit.

Last week, Hood's attorneys filed a last-ditch appeal asking for a stay. While rumors of an affair between Judge Sue Holland, now retired, and Tom O'Connell, then the Collin County district attorney, had been circulating for several years they had not been raised in Hood's case.

A state appellate court refused Monday to grant the stay. David Dow of the Texas Defender Service said he was "flabbergasted."

Texas, the state with the busiest death chamber, has held only one execution this year because of the Supreme Court case on lethal injection. Karl Chamberlain was put to death last Wednesday for raping and killing a woman 17 years ago.