Delay of Texas death row inmate’s execution has not been the norm for Supreme Court, experts say

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas inmate Ruben Gutierrez had spent some of the hours leading up to his scheduled execution Tuesday evening talking with his wife and attorney before being eventually transferred to a holding cell at the state prison in Huntsville to await his lethal injection.

But about 20 minutes before he was to be taken into the nearby death chamber, the prison warden told Gutierrez the U.S. Supreme Court had granted him an execution stay.

Gutierrez prayed with a prison chaplain and said, “God is great! I wasn’t expecting this.”

Gutierrez’s wife and lawyer were overjoyed over the high court’s decision while family members of the 85-year-old South Texas woman he was convicted of fatally stabbing decades ago said they were devasted by the delay. Gutierrez had received a similar last-minute stay in 2020.

The granting of 11th-hour reprieves for death row inmates has been rare from the Supreme Court, with a majority of justices expressing skepticism and even hostility to such requests, according to experts.

Here are some things to know about Gutierrez’s case and the Supreme Court’s history with last-minute requests to stay executions:

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