Supreme Court stays execution of Texas man convicted of 1998 murder

The court had already stayed his execution once, in 2020, after Gutierrez challenged a Texas law that prohibited a spiritual adviser from being present with him in the execution chamber.

In a statement released Tuesday, Mr. Gutierrez’s attorney, Shawn Nolan, said he hoped “that now that the court has intervened to stop this execution, we will finally be able to conduct the DNA testing to prove that Mr. Gutierrez should not be executed now or in the future.”

In September 1998, Escolastica Harrison, 85, was beaten to death in her Texas mobile home, where she kept about $600,000, according to court documents.

Police arrested Gutierrez, who prosecutors said befriended Harrison because he knew she kept a large amount of cash in her home. Two other people were also charged. One, Rene Garcia, is serving a life sentence, according to Texas prison records. The other, Pedro Garcia, who allegedly drove the getaway car, remains at large, The Associated Press reported.

In a petition filed in June with the Supreme Court, Gutierrez’s attorneys said he has maintained for more than a decade that he did not enter Harrison’s home and did not know anyone would be hurt.

Lawyers said Gutierrez was convicted under Texas’ party law, which states that people can be held criminally responsible for the actions of others.

“He fought for over a decade to test biological evidence collected from the crime scene to establish that he did not actually kill, did not intend to kill, or did not anticipate that anyone would be killed,” they wrote in their petition.

Over the years, Gutierrez has filed several requests with the court for DNA testing on crime scene samples, which include scrapings of Harrison’s fingernails and a loose hair that had been wrapped around his finger, according to the petition.

In their response to Gutierrez’s request for Supreme Court review, the Texas attorney general’s and Cameron County district attorney’s offices said the requests for DNA testing were denied because state law does not allow testing to avoid the death penalty after conviction.

“Even if that were the case,” the court filing says, “Gutierrez would not be entitled to it.”

Online records show that Gutierrez’s request for a stay was filed with the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the same day the court granted it.

Amanda Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, told the AP that Gutierrez did not expect to receive a stay of execution and was “visibly emotional” Tuesday.

“He turned toward the back of the cell, covered his mouth,” Hernandez told the AP. “He was crying, he was speechless. He was in shock.”