Texas Court Halts Ruben Gutierrez Execution Pending Outcome of Supreme Court Case on Exercise of Religion in the Execution Chamber

At the request of Cameron County pros­e­cu­tors, a Texas tri­al court has vacat­ed the death war­rant that had sched­uled the exe­cu­tion of Ruben Gutierrez (pic­tured) for October 27, 2021. 

In June 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed Gutierrez’s exe­cu­tion after Texas refused to allow his spir­i­tu­al advi­sor to accom­pa­ny him in the exe­cu­tion cham­ber and direct­ed the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, where Gutierrez had filed a civ­il rights suit alleg­ing reli­gious dis­crim­i­na­tion, to con­duct an evi­den­tiary hear­ing to deter­mine whether per­mit­ting a spir­i­tu­al advis­er of the pris­on­er’s choice in the exe­cu­tion cham­ber would pose secu­ri­ty con­cerns. Texas sub­se­quent­ly changed its exe­cu­tion pro­to­col to allow the spir­i­tu­al advi­sor into the exe­cu­tion cham­ber. However, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice inter­pret­ed the pro­to­col as pro­hibit­ing the advi­sor from pray­ing out loud with the pris­on­er, admin­is­ter­ing last rites, or touch­ing the pris­on­er in any way. Texas issued a new death war­rant against Gutierrez and he again chal­lenged that policy.

On September 8, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the exe­cu­tion of Texas death-row pris­on­er John Ramirez to con­sid­er whether the Texas pol­i­cy vio­lat­ed the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the fed­er­al Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act — the exact issues that Gutierrez has raised. The Cameron County District Attorney’s office asked the tri­al court to vacate Gutierrez’s war­rant pend­ing the out­come of Ramirez’s case.