Beazley was 17 when he killed John Luttig, the father of a federal judge who has ties to three U.S. Supreme Court justices. The case has divided the Supreme Court and renewed criticism of states that apply the death penalty to teen-agers.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Beazley a stay after receiving a 10-claim, 136-page appeal from his lawyers.

The lead prosecutor vowed to continue the fight to carry out the punishment.

Gov. Rick Perry, who also could have halted the punishment with a one-time 30-day reprieve, said he was comfortable with the Texas law that allows the death penalty for 17-year-old capital murderers but declined to comment on the reprieve.

Beazley still has before the U.S. Supreme Court an appeal seeking a broader review of his case, including whether the Constitution bars executing people who were under 18 when they committed their crimes. In a 1989 ruling on a case from Kentucky, the high court said death sentences for defendants as young as 16 were constitutional.
Beazley was a football star at Grapeland High and the senior class president when he shot to death Luttig, 63, during a botched carjacking in front of the man's house in 1994. Beazley never denied the crime but he and his attorneys argued his lack of criminal past and his youth should spare him from the death chamber.