Updated: Court Declines Stay for 9-11 Revenge Killer
![Rais Bhuiyan, the sole survivor of a 2001 shooting, speaks out at a press conference in Austin on July 14, 2011 about his lawsuit against Gov. Perry for not upholding his victim's rights .](https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/BqHrB0MqLTGZA6eST6rFpl4ltKM=/850x570/smart/filters:quality(75)/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Bhuiyan.jpg)
5:21 p.m.: The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans declined to stay Stroman's execution.
The court said Bhuiyan's claim was untimely.
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U.S. Distict Judge Lee Yeakel today denied Rais Bhuiyan’s request to the stay the execution of Mark Stroman, the man who shot him and killed two others and is scheduled to die tonight for his crimes.
In the order released this afternoon by Yeakel, the judge said he lacks the jurisdiction to stay the execution and that granting the injunction it is not in the best interest of the public.
Bhuiyan was shot in the face when Stroman walked into a Dallas convenience store Sept. 21, 2001, and went on a rampage. Stroman was a methamphetamine addict and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after his half-sister was killed in the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers.
Bhuiyan, the sole survivor of Stroman’s crime, pleaded with the state to stay the execution so he could have mediation with Stroman.
“It is very important to have mediation,” Bhuiyan said, “so I can move on with my own life and have mental piece.”
Declining to grant the stay, Yeakel wrote that doing so would "disserve the public interest by allowing third-parties to interfere with the orderly functioning of the criminal-justice system by filing civil actions unrelated to the crime for which a person has been assessed the death penalty.”
Bhuiyan’s attorneys have appealed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
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