Entries tagged with “Ruben Gutierrez”
United States Supreme Court
,Innocence
,Oct 09, 2024
A “Meaningless Ritual”? U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Decide Whether Ruben Gutierrez Can Challenge Texas DNA Testing Procedures to Prove His Innocence
On Friday, October 4, the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in Gutierrez v. Saenz, a case regarding death-sentenced Texas prisoner Ruben Gutierrez’s ability to sue the state for DNA testing in support of his innocence claim. The Court had issued a stay to Mr. Gutierrez on July 16, just twenty minutes before his scheduled execution. Mr. Gutierrez was convicted and sentenced to death in 1999 for the murder and robbery of an 85-year-old woman but has long maintained his innocence.
Facts & Research
United States Supreme Court
,Jul 17, 2024
United States Supreme Court Issues Rare Last-Minute Stay for Ruben Gutierrez
The state of Texas was scheduled to execute Ruben Gutierrez (pictured) on July 16, 2024; however, the United States Supreme Court issued a rare, last-minute stay of execution just 20 minutes before he was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection. This is the first stay of execution granted by the Supreme Court since it issued a stay for Richard Glossip in 2023. In a petition filed with the Supreme Court, attorneys for Mr. Gutierrez asked the Court to intervene because Texas has denied…
Executions
Upcoming Executions
,Jul 16, 2024
Alabama and Texas are Set to Execute Prisoners This Week, Despite Serious Constitutional Questions in their Cases
On Thursday, July 18, 2024, the state of Alabama is scheduled to execute Keith Gavin (pictured left) by lethal injection, despite court findings that his trial counsel was ineffective. Mr. Gavin was convicted and sentenced to death in 1999 for the shooting death of a delivery driver. A non-unanimous jury voted 10 – 2 in favor of the death penalty for Mr. Gavin, and the trial court accepted the jury’s sentencing outcome. During the penalty phase of trial, Mr. Gavin’s defense team did not present…
Facts & Research
Religion
,Upcoming Executions
,Sep 16, 2021
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,…
Facts & Research
Religion
,United States Supreme Court
,Executions Overview
,Sep 09, 2021
U.S. Supreme Court Stays Texas Execution, Agrees to Review Contours of the Right to Religious Exercise in the Execution Chamber
In an after-hours order issued on September 8, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court halted Texas’s planned execution of John Henry Ramirez and agreed to review his claim that the state’s refusal to allow his pastor to “lay hands” on him or pray audibly during the execution violated federal law and his First Amendment right to the free exercise of…
Facts & Research
Religion
,United States Supreme Court
,Upcoming Executions
,Sep 07, 2021
Condemned Prisoner Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Stay His Execution Unless Texas Corrections Officials Permit His Religious Advisor to ‘Lay on Hands’ While He is Being Put to Death
Texas death-row prisoner John Ramirez (pictured) is asking the United States Supreme Court to stay his September 8, 2021 execution, arguing that the state’s refusal to allow his pastor to pray out loud with him and lay hands on him while he is being executed violates federal law and his First Amendment right to free exercise of…
Facts & Research
Crimes Punishable by Death
,Recent Legislative Activity
,May 07, 2021
Texas House of Representatives Passes Bill to Limit Death-Penalty Eligibility for Defendants Who Do Not Kill
In an overwhelming bipartisan vote, the Texas House of Representatives has passed a bill that ends death-penalty liability under the state’s controversial “law of parties” for felony accomplices who neither kill nor intended that a killing take place and were minor participants in the conduct that led to the death of the victim. Currently, Texas law makes any participant in a felony criminally liable for the acts of everyone else involved in the crime, irrespective of how…
Facts & Research
Religion
,Apr 26, 2021
Texas Revises Execution Protocol to Permit Spiritual Advisers in Death Chamber
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has amended its execution protocol to permit a condemned prisoner to be accompanied in the execution chamber by a spiritual adviser of his or her own…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Apr 05, 2021
Federal Court Approves DNA Testing for Man Who Was Spared Execution by Texas’s Refusal to Allow Religious Adviser in Execution Chamber
A federal district court has ruled that Texas unconstitutionally denied DNA testing to a death-row prisoner who is alive today only because of a last-minute stay of execution granted because the state refused to allow his religious adviser to accompany him in the execution chamber. In a 26-page ruling issued on March 23, 2021, Judge Hilda Tagle of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas paved the way for Ruben Gutierrez (pictured) to obtain DNA testing that…
Facts & Research
Religion
,Upcoming Executions
,Jun 17, 2020
News Brief — U.S. Supreme Court Stays Execution of Ruben Gutierrez in Texas
NEWS (6/16/20) — Washington, D.C.: The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the execution of Ruben Gutierrez over concerns about the refusal by the state of Texas to allow a chaplain to accompany Gutierrez in the execution chamber.
Executions
Upcoming Executions
,Executions Overview
,Jun 13, 2020
Death Warrant Update — Courts Halt Executions in Tennessee, Pennsylvania; Vacate Stay in Texas
NEWS (6/12/20) — Texas: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit lifted a stay of execution the federal district court had granted to Ruben Gutierrez. The action reactivates the death warrant scheduling Mr. Gutierrez’s execution for June…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Representation
,Upcoming Executions
,Jun 05, 2020
As Federal Litigation Continues, Ruben Gutierrez Seeks Stay of Execution, Citing Concerns About Pandemic
Texas death-row prisoner Ruben Gutierrez (pictured) has asked the Texas state courts to stay his execution because of the COVID-19 pandemic as federal litigation continues on his efforts to obtain DNA testing and to require Texas to permit him to have a chaplain present in the execution chamber if his execution…
Executions
Upcoming Executions
,Oct 24, 2019
Courts Grant Stays of Execution on Procedural Grounds in Two Cases Raising Significant Guilt-Related Questions
Courts in Texas and Florida have granted stays of execution to two men who faced imminent execution despite serious questions as to their involvement in the murders for which they were sentenced to death. On October 22, 2019, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) stayed the execution of Ruben Gutierrez (pictured, left), which had been scheduled for October 30. The following day, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida…