WaPo: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a last-minute stay of execution to a Texas man who for more than a decade has requested DNA testing to prove his innocence in a 1998 killing.
Ruben Gutierrez was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death 25 years ago. He was scheduled to receive a lethal injection at a Texas prison about 20 minutes after the high court said it would delay the execution until it decides whether to review Gutierrez’s case, his attorney said.
The court stayed his execution once before, in 2020, after Gutierrez challenged a Texas law that barred a spiritual adviser from being present with him in the execution chamber.
In a statement Tuesday, Gutierrez’s attorney, Shawn Nolan, said he was “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.””