Delay of Texas death row inmate's execution has not been the norm for Supreme Court, experts say

HOUSTON — Texas inmate Ruben Gutierrez had spent some of the hours leading up to his scheduled execution Tuesday evening talking with his wife and attorney before being eventually transferred to a holding cell at the state prison in Huntsville to await his lethal injection.

But about 20 minutes before he was to be taken into the nearby death chamber, the prison warden told Gutierrez the U.S. Supreme Court had granted him an execution stay.

Gutierrez prayed with a prison chaplain and said, “God is great! I wasn’t expecting this.”

Gutierrez’s wife and lawyer were overjoyed over the high court’s decision while family members of the 85-year-old South Texas woman he was convicted of fatally stabbing decades ago said they were devasted by the delay. Gutierrez had received a similar last-minute stay in 2020.

The granting of 11th-hour reprieves for death row inmates has been rare from the Supreme Court, with a majority of justices expressing skepticism and even hostility to such requests, according to experts.

Here are some things to know about Gutierrez’s case and the Supreme Court’s history with last-minute requests to stay executions:

Who is Ruben Gutierrez

Gutierrez was sent to death row after being convicted of capital murder for the 1998 killing of Escolastica Harrison at her home in Brownsville in Texas’ 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 sought DNA testing for more than a decade that he claims would help prove he had no role in her death. His attorneys have said there’s no physical or forensic evidence connecting him to the killing. Two others also were charged in the case.

Prosecutors have said the request for DNA testing is a delay tactic and Gutierrez was convicted on various pieces of evidence, including a confession in which he admitted to planning the robbery.

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.

“The fact that the court stepped in and stopped this execution will give us the opportunity to try to convince other actors in the state to allow us to do the testing that we’ve been asking for forever,” said Shawn Nolan, one of Gutierrez’s attorneys. Nolan said such execution delays by the Supreme Court are rare.

How often does the Supreme Court grant requests to stay executions

Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said Wednesday that out of 26 requests to stay executions that were submitted last year to the Supreme Court, only one was granted.

A 2023 analysis by Bloomberg Law found that of the 270 emergency stays filed by death row inmates in the U.S. between 2013 and 2023, only 11, or 4%, were granted by the high court, she said.

In a 2019 ruling by the Supreme Court denying Missouri inmate Russell Bucklew’s request to stop his execution, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote, “Last-minute stays should be the extreme exception, not the norm.”

Maher said Gorsuch’s statement has been used by state prosecutors in pro-death penalty states to push back against efforts to give inmates and their lawyers more time in their cases.

“I think the majority at the Supreme Court views requests for stays of execution with deep suspicion and even hostility,” said Maher, whose Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit takes no position on capital punishment but has criticized the way states carry out executions.

What is it like for an inmate to be minutes away from execution

Nolan said being minutes from execution on two different occasions within the last four years has taken a psychological toll on Gutierrez, who had spent part of Tuesday meeting with his family for what he thought was the final time.

“We all think about our own end of life in very difficult ways, or psychological, emotional ways. That’s certainly how Ruben has tried to deal with this,” Nolan said.

Maher said what Gutierrez has now twice experienced in being minutes away from death is a form of torture.

What was the reaction by the victim’s family to the execution stay

Harrison’s family, along with Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, expressed frustration with the delay.

“It’s just devastating news, you know? It’s already been over two and a half decades waiting for this to happen,” Alex Hernandez, Harrison’s nephew, told KRGV.

Maher said she understands the frustration of the victim’s family but the delay is necessary to hopefully allow for the DNA testing so “that no one is executed that doesn’t deserve that sentence.”

Nolan said if the Supreme Court decides to accept Gutierrez’s case, it will be argued before the justices. If the high court declines it, the stay will be vacated and prosecutors could ask the trial judge in the case for a new execution date. By Texas law, a new date would have to be set three months out from when a judge would enter a new order.