Death Row killer who committed horrific crime stops execution with 20 minutes to go

A prisoner who has spent more than 575 days on death watch was supposed to be executed on Tuesday (16 July) evening.

But just 20 minutes before Ruben Gutierrez was set to be administered with the lethal injection, his execution was put on hold.

The Texas inmate is convicted of stabbing retired schoolteacher Escolastica Harrison, 85, to death in 1998.

Gutierrez, 47, was sentenced to death for killing Harrison during a home robbery in Brownsville, US.

Death Row inmate Ruben Gutierrez was scheduled to be executed on Tuesday. (Texas Dept of Criminal Justice)

Prosecutors said at the time that Gutierrez planned to steal more than $600,000 of cash she kept in her home due to a distrust of banks.

However, the inmate has always denied killing Harrison and his attorney has insisted that there is a lack of DNA evidence linking him to the crime.

After filing an appeal with the US Supreme Court, they delayed the execution around 20 minutes before it was set to take place.

Shawn Nolan, Gutierrez's attorney, told USA Today: "Mr. Gutierrez has been requesting DNA testing for more than a decade to prove he did not kill the victim in this case."

In stopping the execution, he hopes the court will 'ultimately accomplish the DNA testing to prove that Mr. Gutierrez should not be executed now or in the future'.

Retired schoolteacher Escolastica Harrison, 85, was stabbed to death in 1998. (CBS 4)

Meanwhile, for the murder victim's family, Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz argued on Tuesday (16 July): "Here we go again. We did this four years ago and I found that to be very disheartening to the family. And here we are four years later.

"Déjà vu. It's sickening to the family. They get re-victimized over and over again. When is it going to stop?

"All that does is reinvigorate me. All that does is motivate me to double down and to do what I have to do to so that someday, in the near future, the Harrison family will see justice for Escolastica, which is what they've been waiting for and wanting now for 25 years."

Harrison's nephew, Alex Hernandez, told the outlet that he was waiting for the execution to begin when he received a phone call from Saenz about 20 minutes before Gutierrez was supposed to be executed.

The murder victim's family are arguing against the decision to halt Gutierrez's execution via lethal injection. (Mike Simons/Getty Images)

"It was just devastating," he said. "It's like come on, you know. This is the third time we've jumped through all their hoops and done everything that they've asked.

"And now you're telling us that it's not going to happen. I mean it's just numbing, devastating, unbelievable."

He continued: "I feel just defeated. I know it's not over yet, but at this moment I feel defeated. When's it going to happen? Why hasn't it happened yet? Is going to happen ever?

"He was convicted. How are you telling me 'Look at the case again.' For what? It doesn't make sense."