SCOTUS Grants Cert in Gutierrez (TX capital case)
The question presented relates to Article III standing and a split amongst the circuit courts on the issue.
This morning, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Gutierrez v. Saenz.
Background
Ruben Gutierrez was sentenced to death in Texas in 1999. For over a decade, he sought relief based on exculpatory DNA evidence.
In September 2019, Gutierrez filed a complaint in federal district court “challeng[ing] the constitutionality of Texas’s post-conviction DNA testing procedures, as well as the constitutionality of Texas’s execution protocol which, at the time, did not allow a spiritual advisor to be in the execution chamber with the condemned.” Following a stay of execution from SCOTUS "on the spiritual advisor issue, the district court issued a partial declaratory judgment in Gutierrez’s favor on the DNA challenge.” The court concluded that “Chapter 64 violated Gutierrez’s due process rights.”
Following the district court’s decision, “Gutierrez again filed a motion pursuant to Chapter 64 in state court seeking DNA testing to establish his innocence . . . . The trial court denied the motion, ruling that it lacked jurisdiction.” His appeal of that ruling was pending at the CCA when he filed the petition at issue.
Meanwhile, the federal court “granted the State’s motion for partial final judgment on the DNA claims. The State then appealed. On February 8, 2024, in a split decision, the Fifth Circuit reversed the district court’s judgment, holding that Gutierrez lacks standing.”
In April 2024, the State requested that Gutierrez’s execution be set. On April 8, the trial court signed Gutierrez’s execution warrant for July 16.
On July 16 - the day of Gutierrez’s scheduled execution - the Supreme Court granted his application for a stay of execution pending the disposition of his petition.
Certiorari
This morning, the Supreme Court granted Gutierrez’s petition for certiorari. Gutierrez sought certiorari from the Fifth Circuit, arguing that the Fifth Circuit’s ruling undermines SCOTUS’s 2023 decision in Reed v. Goertz.
The question presented relates to Article III standing and a split amongst the circuit courts:
