HOUSTON—The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review the case of a North Texas man on death row for the robbery, beating, rape and strangling of a 93-year-old woman in her home.

William A. Murray, 39, was condemned for the 1998 death of Rena Ratcliff, killed in her small home in Kaufman, east of Dallas, where she lived alone.

The convicted murderer’s mother had once cared for the elderly woman as a home nursing aide.

Murray does not have an execution date. Executions in Texas, the nation’s most active death penalty state, have been on a de facto hold since September after the Supreme Court agreed to look at constitutional challenges to lethal injection procedures. A ruling is expected no later than this summer.

The Supreme Court’s denial comes about eight months after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld lower courts that denied five claims from Murray, including one that his trial court did not require psychological examinations when he said in 1999 he wanted appeals dropped and execution expedited.

He later changed his mind, but a motion to reinstate his appeals was denied.

A psychological expert said that, based on an informal examination, he had no reason to doubt Murray’s competence when he testified that his appeals should be waived.

Murray later said that when he said he wanted to be executed for the sake of the victim’s family, he knew his death would be a mistake and that he was being influenced by depression and suicidal thoughts. Lower courts denied his claim.

At the time of the slaying, Murray had been out of prison just a few months after serving only three months of a 10-year term for burglary.

After his arrest, Murray told his mother he killed the woman in a drug frenzy after breaking into her home. Evidence showed Murray had two earlier marijuana convictions.

According to court documents, Murray attacked Ratcliff after she woke up while he was in her room looking for valuables and confronted him.

Police acting on a warrant that tied Murray to an earlier burglary arrested him when they found evidence linking him to the Ratcliff slaying.