Supreme Court to Hear Ruben Gutierrez's Challenge to Texas DNA Testing Law

Oct 4, 2024, 03:40 PM

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of Texas death row inmate Ruben Gutierrez, who argues that DNA testing could exonerate him in the murder of an 85-year-old woman, an elderly mobile home park owner in Brownsville, during a home robbery decades ago. Gutierrez has long sought DNA testing of evidence from the crime scene, challenging Texas's DNA testing statute as unconstitutional. His execution was previously halted by the Supreme Court just 20 minutes before it was scheduled to occur. The case, set to be one of the first heard in the Supreme Court's October term starting Monday, centers on whether the state's refusal to allow DNA testing violates Gutierrez's constitutional rights.