US Edition
Justices side with Texas death row inmate seeking DNA testing to show he shouldn’t be executed
- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Thursday in Gutierrez v. Saenz that Texas death row inmate Ruben Gutierrez can challenge state DNA testing laws to seek evidence that may prove his innocence.
- Gutierrez was sentenced to death in 1998 for the fatal stabbing of 85-year-old Escolastica Harrison during a robbery at her Brownsville home, but Texas courts had repeatedly denied his requests for DNA testing that could clear him.
- His lawyers argue he was involved in the robbery but never entered the home or committed the murder, and they contend that DNA evidence of hair or nail scrapings would prove his innocence.
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the majority opinion rejecting the Fifth Circuit’s ruling that Gutierrez lacked standing, calling it “wrong twice over” and emphasizing that the constitutional claim is not moot despite prosecutorial resistance.
- The decision allows Gutierrez’s challenge to proceed in federal court, potentially enabling DNA testing that his lawyers say would prove his innocence and impact the application of Texas post-conviction DNA laws.
60 Articles
60 Articles
US Supreme Court allows Texas death row inmate to sue over state’s DNA testing procedure
The US Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision Thursday that a Texas death row inmate has the legal right to sue over the state’s laws governing DNA testing. The majority opinion was written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Ruben Gutierrez was convicted of capital murder in 1998. Since 2010, he has been unsuccessfully requesting DNA testing in state court of crime scene evidence he claimed would prove he was not in the victim’s home the night of the mu…
Supreme Court Grants Reprieve to Condemned Texas Prisoner Minutes Before Lethal Injection
The Supreme Court stayed the execution of a condemned Texas prisoner on Thursday, mere minutes before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection. Ruben Gutierrez insists he was wrongfully convicted of a 1998 murder in Brownsville; he’ll now have a chance to obtain DNA testing that he says will prove his innocence.
Justices support a Texas death row inmate requesting DNA testing to indicate he should not be executed - Miamistandard News
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in favour of a Texas death row inmate requesting DNA testing to prove he is ineligible for execution. The 6-3 decision in favour of Ruben Gutierrez opens the door to having evidence analysed, which his attorneys claim will help prove he was not guilty for the fatal stabbing of an 85-year-old lady during a house robbery decades ago. His lawyers have stated that there was no physical or forensic evi…
U.S. Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Texas Death Row Prisoner Seeking DNA Testing | Death Penalty Information Center
On June 26, 2025, the United States Supreme Court issued a rare 6 – 3 ruling in favor of a Texas death row prisoner, Ruben Gutierrez, holding that he may proceed with his lawsuit challenging Texas’s post-conviction DNA statute on constitutional grounds. 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 he did not know his codefendants would …
Fireball; poop cruise; DNA and an old murder case: Down in Alabama
We’re taking a break on the weekly quiz for now, but it will reappear soon.Also, today’s a great day to listen to the podcast. We’re talking about a Death Row inmate’s case that some people believe needs to be revisited in light of DNA evidence -- but the state wants to keep its 30-year-old conviction.
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