Minutes before convicted murderer Ruben Gutierrez was due to receive a lethal injection for his role in the murder of an 85-year-old woman in 1998 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 inside of her trailer park home in the town of Brownsville, just north of the Mexico border on Texas’ Gulf Coast.
He maintained his innocence, claiming he was not inside of the home at the time. Gutierrez has admitted to taking part in the attempt to rob Harrison of $600,000 she saved and stored at home because of a mistrust of banks.
The Supreme Court must now decided if Gutierrez and his legal team can bring their appeal to the highest court in the land. The case was previously brought to the wider public’s attention when Kim Kardashian appealed to Texas Gov. Gregg Abbot to halt the execution.
He was set to die at 6:00 pm local time on July 16. The ruling came at 5:40pm. He was in a holding cell when prison warden Kelly Strong told him about the stay.
‘He was visibly emotional,’ prison spokeswoman Amanda Hernandez said, adding he was not expecting the court stay. ‘We asked him if he wanted to make a statement but he needed a minute.’
The nation´s high court issued the indefinite stay shortly before inmate Ruben Gutierrez was to have been taken to the death chamber of a Huntsville prison
Gutierrez was condemned for the 1998 killing of Escolastica Harrison, shown here alongside her husband at a family wedding
Kim Kardashian became involved in Gutierrez’s case in 2020 and celebrated his earlier stay of execution on social media
Gutierrez pictured with his wife, Nicie, in 2020. Nicie has been a constant advocate for her husband’s innocence
‘He turned around to the back of the cell, covered his mouth. He was tearing up, speechless. He was shocked.’
She said Gutierrez then prayed with a prison chaplain and added: ‘God is great!’
Gutierrez legal fight has been ongoing since 2009 when he began seeking post-conviction DNA testing. His lawyers maintain that DNA evidence will prove that he was not in the home at the time of the killing. Two others are charged in the case.
He has had several previous execution dates in recent years that have been delayed, including related to having a spiritual adviser in the death chamber.
In June 2020, Gutierrez was an hour from execution when he got a stay from the Supreme Court.
At the time of his trial, prosecutors said the killing of the mobile home park manager and retired teacher was part of an attempt to steal more than $600,000 she had hidden in her home because of her mistrust of banks.
‘The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is granted pending the disposition of the petition for a writ of certiorari,’ the Supreme Court’s ruling states.
‘Should the petition for a writ of certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event the petition for a writ of certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court.’
The reality star-turned-criminal justice reform advocate celebrated the news on social media
His attorneys argued that various items recovered from the crime scene – including nail scrapings from Harrison, a loose hair wrapped around one of her fingers and various blood samples from within her home – have never been tested.
‘Gutierrez faces not only the denial of (DNA testing) that he has repeatedly and consistently sought for over a decade, but moreover, execution for a crime he did not commit. No one has any interest in a wrongful execution,’ Gutierrez´s attorneys wrote in their petition to the Supreme Court.
Shawn Nolan, an attorney for Gutierrez, expressed pleasure with the court’s decision late Tuesday. ‘We are hopeful that now the Court has stepped in to stop this execution, we can ultimately accomplish the DNA testing to prove that Mr. Gutierrez should not be executed now or in the future,’ Nolan said in an emailed statement.
Prosecutors said Gutierrez was attempting to steal more than $600,000 that Escolastica Harrison had hidden in her home when he killed her
Prosecutors have said the request for DNA testing is a delay tactic and that Gutierrez was convicted on various pieces of evidence, including a confession in which he admitted to planning the robbery and that he was inside her home when she was killed.
Gutierrez was convicted under Texas´ law of parties, which says a person can be held liable for the actions of others if they assist or encourage the commission of a crime.
In their response to Gutierrez´s Supreme Court petition, the Texas Attorney General´s Office and the Cameron County District Attorney´s Office had said state law does not provide ‘for postconviction DNA testing to show innocence of the death penalty and, even if it did, Gutierrez would not be entitled to it.’
Lower courts have previously denied Gutierrez´s requests for DNA testing.
Authorities said Gutierrez befriended Harrison so he could rob her. Prosecutors said Harrison hid her money underneath a false floor in her bedroom closet.
Two of Harrison’s nephews and three of their friends were to have witnessed the execution. They declined to comment on the court’s reprieve.
Police charged three people in this case: Rene Garcia, Pedro Gracia and Gutierrez. Rene Garcia is serving a life sentence in a Texas prison while Pedro Gracia, who police said was the getaway driver, remains at large.
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