HOUSTON – The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has lifted a reprieve given earlier this week to a Texas death row inmate facing execution Thursday in Huntsville.
Beunka Adams' lethal injection for a fatal shooting during an East Texas convenience store robbery 10 years ago was stopped Monday by a federal judge in Texarkana. Attorneys contended he had deficient legal help at his trial and in early stages of his appeals.
But the 5th Circuit agreed Wednesday with arguments from the Texas attorney general's office that the reprieve was improper.
The 29-year-old Adams is one of two men sent to death row for the 2002 abduction and shooting death of 37-year-old Kenneth Vandever of Rusk.
Adams has appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution.
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