The Supreme Court halted the execution of a Texas inmate about an hour before it was scheduled to take place.
Ruben Gutierrez, who was convicted of fatally stabbing an 85-year-old woman in 1998, requested that a Christian chaplain be present during his execution scheduled for Tuesday. However, he was denied the request.
“As a devout Catholic, Mr. Gutierrez’s faith requires the assistance of clergy to help him pass from life into afterlife,” his attorney, Shawn Nolan, argued.
In March 2019, the Supreme Court halted the execution of Buddhist prisoner Patrick Murphy, who was denied the ability to have a spiritual adviser attend his execution. Up until that point, only Muslim and Christian clergy has been allowed in the room.
“The government may not discriminate against religion generally or against particular religious denominations,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote at the time, adding, however, that advisers could be wholly banned from the execution chamber.
After that decision, the Texas prison system declared that it would only allow prison security staff in the room for an execution.
“The Texas Department of Criminal Justice changed its policy for its own convenience, but spiritual comfort at the time of death is not a convenience; it’s a protected legal right,” Nolan said of the move.
A month before the Murphy case, the court allowed the execution of a Muslim prisoner in Alabama who was denied his request to have an imam be present at his execution.
In the case of Gutierrez, the court wrote, “The District Court should promptly determine, based on whatever evidence the parties provide, whether serious security problems would result if a prisoner facing execution is permitted to choose the spiritual adviser the prisoner wishes to have in his immediate presence during the execution.”
