A Texas appeals court on Tuesday halted the execution of a man who has spent more than 30 years on death row and had been set to die by lethal injection this week over the killings of six girls and young women found buried in the desert near El Paso.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals did not clarify why it halted the execution of David Wood in its order granting the stay.

The federal appeals court said the prosecution failed to disclose that a key trial witness was a paid informant.