A Brownsville man sitting on death row after a Cameron County jury found him guilty in the 1998 brutal attack of an 85-year-old woman maintains that the state of Texas has not met his religious request for his execution and states his civil rights lawsuit should not be declared moot.
Ruben Gutierrez wants a federal judge to issue a preliminary or permanent injunction in his case that would require the state to provide him with the religious accommodations he seeks inside the execution chamber, federal court documents reflect.
“Both the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court have indicated an injunction is the proper remedy in this context,” a response filed on Gutierrez’s behalf reads.
Attorneys representing Gutierrez filed a response in his case Dec. 20, 2022, one day before it was anticipated that a motion filed by the state claiming Gutierrez’s lawsuit was moot was to be addressed.
Gutierrez has been sitting on death row since 1999 after a jury found him guilty in the brutal attack and murder of 85-year-old Escolastica Harrison at her trailer home in 1998.
According to records, Gutierrez attempted to steal $600,000 that she had hidden inside her home. An autopsy report indicates a screwdriver was used to kill Harrison. She had been stabbed several times in the facial area. Her body was found in the bedroom of her trailer home.
Prosecutors argued Gutierrez and two accomplices planned to rob Harrison of her savings, killing the woman when the theft didn’t go according to plan. Gutierrez has maintained his innocence, pursuing multiple appeals at the state and federal levels seeking to have crime scene evidence tested for DNA.
All of his appeals were denied.
As he sits on death row, one of the lawsuits he filed states his civil rights are being violated because he cannot have his priest inside the death chamber when he is put to death.
“At base, Mr. Gutierrez disputes Defendants’ assertion that TDCJ officials have provided relief beyond that which Gutierrez asked for in this lawsuit or in any prison grievance, and beyond the basis for Gutierrez’s stay of execution. The relief Mr. Gutierrez has always sought is a preliminary and permanent injunction prohibiting Defendants from executing Mr. Gutierrez until they can do so in a way that does not violate his rights,” a portion of Gutierrez’s response states.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice System on Nov. 30, 2022, addressed all of Gutierrez’s demands in that lawsuit including wanting to have a priest by his side at the time of his execution.
“All of Gutierrez’s pleaded requests for accommodations have now been approved. In the instant suit, Gutierrez requests the presence of his chosen spiritual advisor—William Miles, 2 audible prayer, and for his spiritual advisor to maintain a hand on his left shoulder throughout the execution process while praying over him,” the state’s response to Gutierrez’s lawsuit reads.
Named in the Aug. 25, 2021, lawsuit filed by Gutierrez are Byran Collier, executive director of the TDCJ; Bobby Lumpkin, director of the TDCJ Correctional Institutions Division; and Dennis Crowley, warden of the TDCJ.
U.S. District Judge Rolando Olvera Jr. issued a ruling on this lawsuit May 18, 2022, dismissing it without prejudice.
Since a higher court has already issued a ruling on a case similar to Gutierrez’s, this means the state of Texas and Gutierrez’s attorney will have to agree on what religious protocols will be allowed at Gutierrez’s execution
