[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS

[Rick Halperin]

May 3


TEXAS----new execution date

Brownsville death row inmate who won stay last year now scheduled for execution 
in July


A Texas death row inmate who won a stay of execution last year after a
last-minute change of attorney is now scheduled to die in July, according to a 
prison spokesman.

Ruben Gutierrez, who has long professed his innocence in a 1998 screwdriver 
murder, was last scheduled to be put to death in September 2018. But the courts 
called off the date after his attorney at the time asked to be removed from the 
case, and the new lawyers realized they needed additional time to investigate 
possible appeals.

This year, a Cameron County judge signed off on a July 31 death date, making 
Gutierrez the next man slated for execution in the Lone Star State.

The South Texas man was sent to death row nearly two decades ago, following the 
slaying of trailer park owner Escolastica Harrison. The elderly woman didn't 
trust banks, so she'd stashed roughly $600,000 of cash inside her home, 
according to court records.

Gutierrez knew Harrison through her nephew and, prosecutors argued that he'd 
befriended her just to rob her. That September, authorities say he teamed up 
with two accomplices to carry out their plan and make off with her money

Afterward, Harrison was found beaten and stabbed, face-down in a pool of blood. 
When he was questioned about the slaying, Gutierrez offered up different 
version's of the day's events, and at one point admitted he'd been there - but 
he always said he wasn't the killer.

After a judge greenlit his 2018 execution date - scheduled for exactly 2 
decades after his arrest -  his then-attorney Margaret Schmucker filed a motion 
asking to be taken off the case, saying she didn't have the relevant experience 
for an appeal that would could include a demand for DNA testing.

On top of that, Schmucker had been recently disqualified from handling 
court-appointed work in the federal appeals court as the result of what court 
papers called "rude and unprofessional communications with court staff" and she 
described as a dispute over getting paid.

By the time the court agreed to appoint new attorneys to the case, the 
execution was less than 2 months away, so a federal judge in the Southern 
District of Texas granted a stay.

The condemned man's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for 
comment on Thursday.

In addition to Gutierrez, 2 other prisoners are scheduled for execution this 
year, including a Montgomery County man convicted of killing a college student.

(source: Houston Chronicle)


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Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----43




Executions in Texas:  Dec. 7, 1982----present-----561

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #


44---------July 31----------------Ruben Gutierrez---------562

45---------Aug. 21----------------Larry Swearingen--------563

46---------Sept. 4----------------Billy Crutsinger--------564

47---------Sept. 10--------------Mark Anthony Soliz-------565

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)



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USA----countdown to nation's 1500th execution

With the execution of Scotty Morrow in Georgia on May 2, the USA has now
executed 1,494 condemned individuals since the death penalty was
re-legalized on July 2, 1976 in the US Supreme Court Gregg v Georgia decision.

Gary Gilmore was the 1st person executed, in Utah, on January 17, 1977. Below
is a list of scheduled executions as the nation approaches a terrible milestone
of 1500 executions in the modern era.


NOTE: The list is likely to change over the coming months as new execution
dates are added and possible stays of execution occur.




1496-------May 16-------------Donnie Johnson-----------Tennessee

1497-------May 16-------------Michael Samra------------Alabama

1498-------May 23-------------Bobby Joe Long-----------Florida

1499-------May 30-------------Christopher Price--------Alabama

1500-------July 31-------------Ruben Gutierrez----------Texas

1501-------Aug. 15------------Stephen West-------------Tennessee

1502-------Aug. 21------------Larry Swearingen---------Texas

1504-------Sept. 4------------Billy Crutsinger---------Texas

1505-------Sept. 10-----------Mark Anthony Soliz-------Texas

1506-------Sept. 12------------Warren Henness-----------Ohio



Learn more about efforts to #StopThe1500th Execution and how you can be
involved at
http://deathpenaltyaction.org/1500th [deathpenaltyaction.org]

(source: Rick Halperin)