State seeks civil lawsuit filed by death row inmate to be declared moot
Dec. 17—Brownsville resident Ruben Gutierrez has been sitting on death row since 1999 after a Cameron County 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.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice System 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, and now it appears all that is left is for a federal judge to agree that the civil rights lawsuit Gutierrez' filed is moot, which could possibly lead to an execution date being set.
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.
A portion of his lawsuit reads: "Mr. Gutierrez will be executed under the conditions that violate the First Amendment and substantially burden the exercise of his religious beliefs as protected by the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000."
"Mr. Gutierrez's request through the requisite TDJC administrative channels for a reasonable accommodation — to have a Catholic spiritual advisor (a) pray aloud, (b) perform Viaticum, and (c) touch his shoulder in the execution chamber until he is pronounced dead- has been denied," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit calls for relief so that Gutierrez is executed in a manner that does not violate his religious beliefs and his rights guaranteed under the First Amendment.
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.
"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.
"In Gutierrez's separate lawsuit, he requests Viaticum and Last Rites. See Gutierrez v. Collier, No. 1:21-cv-00129. Gutierrez will be permitted to receive Communion from his chosen spiritual advisor by receiving grape juice and wafer. His spiritual advisor will also be permitted to anoint Gutierrez on the forehead (or other body part) with oil or water once he is secured to the gurney in the execution chamber."
Inclusion, the state's response reads, "Because TDCJ has approved all of Gutierrez's requests, defense counsel believed the parties could amicably resolve the case and move to dismiss the case jointly."
However, according to the state's response, Gutierrez is against having the higher court declare his lawsuit moot, federal court documents reflect.
The motion is scheduled to be addressed on Dec. 21; federal court documents reflect.
