Justices side with Texas death row inmate seeking DNA testing to show he shouldn’t be executed

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled for a Texas death row inmate who is seeking DNA testing to show he should be ineligible for execution.

The 6-3 decision in favor of Ruben Gutierrez gives him a potential path to have evidence tested that his lawyers say would help prove he was not responsible for the fatal stabbing of an 85-year-old woman during a home robbery decades ago.

His lawyers have said there was no physical or forensic evidence connecting him to the killing and that he was not a major participant in the crime. Two others also were charged in the case.

Gutierrez’s lawyers argued that his case was similar to that of Rodney Reed, another longtime death row inmate in Texas who also won a round at the Supreme Court in his fight for DNA testing that he says would show he is innocent of murder.

In July, the high court granted Gutierrez a stay of execution 20 minutes before he was to receive a lethal injection.

Gutierrez was sentenced to death 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 that she had hidden in her home because of her mistrust of banks.

Gutierrez had several previous execution dates in recent years that were delayed, including over issues related to having a spiritual adviser in the death chamber. In June 2020, Gutierrez was about an hour from execution when he received a stay from the Supreme Court.