Texas court stays execution of inmate on intellectual disability grounds

May 8 (UPI) -- A Texas appeals court has issued a stay of execution for a death row inmate on grounds he is intellectually disabled.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals sent the case of Randall Mays, 60, to a lower trial court for review.

Mays was scheduled to be executed Wednesday.

His appeal also said his initial trial and death sentence was tainted by racial bias and prejudicial misconduct by the jury, and that he was improperly interrogated, violating his constitutional rights. The appeals court chose not to address these other claims.

Mays was sentenced to death in 2008 for fatally shooting two sheriff's deputies in 2007 during a domestic violence call.

Mays' execution is one of several stayed or rescheduled in recent weeks amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Tennessee Supreme Court delayed the June execution of Oscar Smith on grounds that lawyers have been unable to conduct the investigations required in the months leading up his death date. Texas has also put off the executions of John Hummel, Tracy Beatty, Fabian Hernandez, Billy Wardlow and Carlos Trevino.

Earlier this week, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied the appeal of death row inmate Charles Don Flores, who said he was unconstitutionally convicted based on information obtained during hypnosis. The court said he couldn't contest his conviction based on the "junk science law."