Minutes before convicted murderer Ruben Gutierrez was to receive a lethal injection for his role in the 1998 killing of an 85-year-old woman in Texas, the Supreme Court issued a stay of execution.
Gutierrez, 47, was convicted in 1999, when he was 21, of killing Escolastica Harrison with a screwdriver in her mobile home in the city of Brownsville, just north of the Mexico border on Texas’s Gulf Coast.
He maintained his innocence and claimed he was not in the house at the time. Gutierrez has admitted to participating in the attempt to rob Harrison of $600,000 that she had saved and stored at the home due to her distrust of banks.
The Supreme Court must now decide whether Gutierrez and his legal team can file their appeal with the highest court in the land. The case was previously brought to public attention when Kim Kardashian appealed to Texas Governor Gregg Abbot to halt the execution.
He was scheduled to die at 6:00 p.m. local time on July 16. The verdict came at 5:40 p.m. He was in a cell when prison director Kelly Strong told him about the stay.
“He was visibly emotional,” prison spokeswoman Amanda Hernandez said, adding that he did not expect the trial to be delayed. “We asked him if he wanted to make a statement, but he needed a minute.”
The nation’s Supreme Court issued the indefinite stay shortly before inmate Ruben Gutierrez was to be taken to the execution chamber at a Huntsville prison
Gutierrez was convicted of the 1998 murder of Escolastica Harrison, pictured here next to her husband at a family wedding
“He turned to the back of the cell, covered his mouth. He was crying, speechless. He was shocked.”
She said Gutierrez then prayed with a prison chaplain, adding, “God is great!”
Gutierrez’s legal battle has been ongoing since 2009, when he began seeking post-conviction DNA testing. His attorneys argue that DNA evidence will prove he was not home at the time of the murder. Two others are charged in the case.
In recent years, several of his executions have been postponed, partly due to the presence of a spiritual advisor in the execution chamber.
In June 2020, Gutierrez was just an hour away from execution when the Supreme Court granted him a stay.
During his trial, prosecutors said the killings of the mobile home park manager and retired teacher were part of an attempt to steal more than $600,000 she had stashed in her home because of her distrust of banks.
“The motion for a stay of execution of the death sentence filed with Justice Alito and submitted by him to the Court is granted pending the disposition of the motion for a writ of appeal,” the Supreme Court ruling said.
‘Should the petition for a writ of certiorari be denied, this stay shall automatically terminate. Should the petition for a writ of certiorari be granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending of the judgment of this Court.’
In 2020, Kim Kardashian thanked the U.S. Supreme Court for granting Gutierrez a stay of execution. She is seen during a visit to the White House in 2019 above
The reality star turned criminal justice reform advocate celebrated the news on social media
Her lawyers argued that several items found at the crime scene, including Harrison’s nail fragments, a loose hair wrapped around one of her fingers and several blood samples from her home, were never tested.
“Gutierrez is faced not only with the denial of (DNA testing) that he has repeatedly and consistently requested for more than a decade, but with execution for a crime he did not commit. No one has any interest in an unlawful execution,” Gutierrez’s attorneys wrote in their petition to the Supreme Court.
Shawn Nolan, an attorney for Gutierrez, welcomed the court’s decision late Tuesday. “We hope that now that the court has intervened to stop this execution, we can finally conduct the DNA testing to prove that Mr. Gutierrez should not be executed now or in the future,” Nolan said in an emailed statement.
Prosecutors say Gutierrez tried to steal more than $600,000 that Escolastica Harrison had hidden in her home when he killed her
Prosecutors say the request for DNA testing was a delaying tactic and Gutierrez was convicted based on several pieces of evidence, including a confession in which he admitted planning the robbery and being in her home when she was killed.
Gutierrez was convicted under Texas law, which states that a person can be held liable for the actions of others if that person aided or abetted the commission of a crime.
In their response to Gutierrez’s petition to the Supreme Court, the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office argued that state law does not provide for “post-conviction DNA testing to prove innocence from the death penalty and, even if it did, Gutierrez would not be entitled to it.”
Lower courts have previously rejected Gutierrez’s requests for DNA testing.
Authorities said Gutierrez befriended Harrison so he could rob her. Prosecutors said Harrison hid her money under a false floor in her bedroom closet.
Two of Harrison’s cousins and three of their friends reportedly witnessed the execution. They declined to comment on the court’s postponement.
Police have charged three people in the case: Rene Garcia, Pedro Gracia and Gutierrez. Rene Garcia is serving a life sentence in a Texas prison, while Pedro Gracia, who police say drove the getaway car, remains at large.