What's Happening with the Ruben Gutierrez Case?

The state of Texas was 20 minutes away from executing Ruben Gutierrez before the United States Supreme Court issued a stay of execution in order to determine whether Mr. Gutierrez’s appeal is meritorious. The execution by lethal injection was meant to take place on July 16.

Ruben filed two motions for DNA testing that were denied in state court before filing a 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 lawsuit in federal court arguing that the denial of DNA testing violated his due process rights. The federal district court sided with Mr. Gutierrez, stating that “giving a defendant the right to a successive habeas petition for innocence of the death penalty under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 11.071 § 5(a)(3) but then denying him DNA testing under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 64.03(a)(C)(2)(A) unless he can demonstrate innocence of the crime is fundamentally unfair and offends procedural due process.” Gutierrez v. Saenz, No. 1:19-CV-185, slip op. at 14-15 (S.D. Tex. Mar. 23, 2021)

The state appealed, and the Fifth Circuit reversed the federal district court in Gutierrez v. Saenz, 93 F.4th 267, 269 (5th Cir. 2024), claiming that Mr. Gutierrez did not have standing to make his argument. The Fifth Circuit also denied rehearing.

Mr. Gutierrez appealed that case to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court stayed Mr. Gutierrez’s execution pending the Supreme Court’s decision on whether or not to take up his appeal (called a writ of certiorari).

All of this litigation is related to DNA testing. Mr. Gutierrez wants evidence tested that he believes will show that he was not one of the people inside the trailer in which Ms. Escolastica Harrison was robbed and murdered, despite being a party to the crime. He argues that difference would impact whether a jury sentenced him to death.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals took up a third motion for DNA testing filed by Mr. Gutierrez after his win in federal district court. In that case, the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that “[t]he statute does not authorize [DNA] testing when exculpatory testing results might affect only the punishment or sentence that he received.” Gutierrez v. State, No. AP-77,108 (Tex. Crim. App. June 27, 2024) (not designated for publication). Going further, the Court of Criminal Appeals held “[e]ven if Chapter 64 applied to evidence affecting the punishment stage, given the evidence in this case, Appellant cannot show that the jury would have answered the punishment issues differently should he obtain exculpatory DNA results.” Id. The Court of Criminal Appeals said that even if the DNA results showed he was not inside the trailer when Ms. Harrison was murdered, appellant would still have been “death-eligible” because he had a major participation in a felony that resulted in murder and his mental state was one of reckless indifference, citing to Emmund v. Florida, 458 U.S. 782 (1982), and Tison v. Arizona, 481 U.S. 137 (1987). Id.

I support ending the death penalty in Texas, and urge those who feel similarly to get involved with the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP).