The back and forth continues between the State of Texas and death row inmate Ruben Gutierrez with the state, in its latest court filing, asking a federal judge to dismiss a civil rights lawsuit filed against it by Gutierrez.
In his lawsuit, Gutierrez claims his religious requests have not been met and that an injunction should be filed in his case. The state, in a Jan. 6 filing, said Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials have acted in good faith in accommodating Gutierrez’s religious requests and that case should be dismissed.
Gutierrez, 45, of Brownsville, 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.
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.
According to the state, Gutierrez alleged that his religious rights would be violated in the future because TDCJ denied his requests for audible prayer, physical touch, and communion in the execution chamber.
A portion of Gutierrez’s lawsuit stated he wants a Catholic spiritual advisor to pray aloud, perform Viaticum or give him Holy communion and his shoulder in the execution chamber until he is pronounced dead.
“While that conduct in the execution chamber was not permitted in the past, TDCJ reevaluated its position and voluntarily changed its practice. TDCJ’s practice now is to evaluate each prisoner’s request, and accommodate as much as it believes to be feasible.
Gutierrez’s religious requests have been determined to be feasible and have been unconditionally approved as evidenced by the sworn testimony of the Director of the TDCJ[1]Correctional Institutions Division,” the state’s response read.
“Accordingly, Gutierrez fails to demonstrate the complained of conduct in this case is likely to reoccur. Mootness divests the Court of jurisdiction to continue to litigate a case. This case should therefore be dismissed,” the state’s response concludes.
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.
