U.S. Supreme Court to weigh a Texas death row case after halting execution

Death row inmate Ruben Gutierrez was condemned for the 1998 stabbing of Escolastica Harrison in Brownsville, Texas. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case of a Texas man on death row who has long argued that DNA testing would help prove he didn't kill an 85-year-old woman during a home robbery decades ago.

The order came down Friday in the case of Ruben Gutierrez, months after the justices stayed his execution 20 minutes before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection.

Gutierrez was condemned for the 1998 stabbing of Escolastica Harrison at her home in Brownsville, on the state's southern tip.

Prosecutors said the killing of the mobile home park manager and retired teacher was part of an attempt to steal more than US$600,000 she had hidden in her home because of her mistrust of banks.

Gutierrez has long asked for DNA testing on evidence like Harrison's nail scrapings, a loose hair wrapped around one of her fingers and various blood samples from within her home.

His attorneys say there's no physical or forensic evidence connecting him to the killing. Two others were also charged in the case.

Attorney Shawn Nolan said the high court's action came as a relief. Agreeing to hear the case and extending the stay of execution "brings us one step closer to finally doing the DNA testing that will overturn Ruben's wrongful conviction and death sentence," he said.

Prosecutors said the request for DNA testing is a delay tactic and that Gutierrez's conviction rests on other evidence, including a confession in which he admitted to planning the robbery and that he was inside her home when she was killed.

Gutierrez was convicted under Texas' law of parties, which says a person can be held liable for the actions of others if they assist or encourage the commission of a crime. He has had several previous execution dates in recent years that have been delayed.