The Supreme Court stayed the execution of Ruben Gutierrez in Texas on Tuesday, less than 30 minutes before the state was slated to carry out a death sentence by lethal injection for the 1998 murder of a retired teacher.
Gutierrez says he didn't kill the woman and that DNA testing of evidence would bolster his claim. Gutierrez has failed in multiple attempts to have DNA analysis conducted in his case.
He's asked the Supreme Court to stay his execution and review lower court rulings on the matter, saying his constitutional rights are being violated by Texas laws limiting how and why DNA evidence can be tested.
Since at least 2010, Gutierrez has been seeking DNA testing of several items from the crime scene, as noted in court documents: '(1) a blood sample taken from the victim; (2) a shirt belonging to Cuellar that had blood stains on it; (3) nail scrapings from the victim; (4) several blood sample.
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