Supreme Court to weigh a Texas death row case after halting execution
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case of a Texas man on death row who has long argued that DNA testing would help prove he didn't kill an 85-year-old woman during a home robbery decades ago
Supreme Court to weigh a Texas death row case after halting execution
Show all 2Your support helps us to tell the story
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
Louise Thomas
Editor
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case of a Texas man on death row who has long argued that DNA testing would help prove he didn't kill an 85-year-old woman during a home robbery decades ago.
The order came down Friday in the case of Ruben Gutierrez, months after the justices stayed his execution 20 minutes before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection.
Gutierrez was condemned for the 1998 stabbing of Escolastica Harrison at her home in Brownsville, on the state's southern tip.
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.
Gutierrez has long asked for DNA testing on evidence like Harrison's nail scrapings, a loose hair wrapped around one of her fingers and various blood samples from within her home.
His attorneys have said there’s no physical or forensic evidence connecting him to the killing. Two others were also charged in the case.
Prosecutors said the request for DNA testing is a delay tactic and that Gutierrez's conviction rests on other 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. He has had several previous execution dates in recent years that have been delayed.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.