()

Seeking to delay the execution of Ruben Gutierrez, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops argued that his constitutional rights of religious liberty were being violated. ©AFP/File KAMIL KRZACZYNSKIThe US Catholic Church has asked the Supreme Court to halt the execution of a Texas prisoner on Tuesday, saying he must be allowed to have priest present when he is put to death.

Seeking to delay the execution of Ruben Gutierrez, 43, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops argued that his constitutional rights of religious liberty were being violated by a year-old Texas statute which forbids religious officials from the death chamber.

The last-minute appeal filed Monday seeks an injunction from the high court to stall the death of Gutierrez, who would be the first person executed in Texas since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

“To deny a prisoner facing imminent execution access to spiritual and religious guidance and accompaniment is cruel and inhuman,” said bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville.

“It is an affront to the moral and religious dimensions of human dignity, which are clearly protected by the First Amendment to the constitution,” he said.

On death row for 20 years, Gutierrez was convicted of the murder in 1998 of an 85 year old woman, trailer park owner Escolastica Harrison, in a robbery.

Gutierrez and two others were accused of stabbing her to death to steal $56,000 that she had stored away in her home.

One pleaded guilty and the second escaped. The third, Gutierrez, was convicted at trial and sentenced to death, but has all along insisted on his innocence.

His lawyers have battled for a delay, asking Texas Governor Greg Abbott to halt the execution so they can pursue a DNA examination they say could prove his innocence.

“In a case with no physical or forensic evidence against him, to execute Mr. Gutierrez without conducting DNA testing would be the ultimate violation of his civil rights,” attorney Shawn Nolan said in a statement.

Gutierrez’s defenders also argue that the high number of COVID-19 cases at his prison in Huntsville, Texas presents a risk for his family and others that would attend the execution.

Texas prisons have counted 7,445 cases of coronavirus, among both inmates and guards, according to the state prison bureau.

(AFP)

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.