Foster has always insisted that his friend and former roommate, Sheldon Ward, who was also condemned for the killing, acting alone in the murder of Nyaneur Pal, who was shot in the head and dumped in a ditch in Tarrant County. Ward died of cancer in prison last May.
Foster's attorneys had asked the Supreme Court to stop the execution on the grounds that trial attorneys failed to get testimony from a blood spatter expert to counter a detective's testimony that Ward couldn't have killed and moved Pal's body by himself.
"The state of Texas is on the verge of executing an innocent man," attorney Clint Broden told the court.
In the court's brief order to halt the execution, two Justices indicated that they would have allowed the punishment to proceed.
More than 60 protesters were gathered at the Texas Capitol last night. They rejoiced when they heard the news of the of the stay of execution by phone call from other protesters gathered outside the prison in Huntsville where Texas does its killing.
Foster would have been the first person to be executed in Texas this year had the stay not been granted.
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