Imagine what would be the mental state of that person, whose death time is fixed and he has no other way except counting the time. The prisoners who get death sentence must be feeling the same. As the clock hands would move forward, their breathing would be getting stuck. The same was happening with a prisoner in America, who was about to die in 20 minutes (Death row execution stops 20 minutes to go). He was sentenced to death. But his punishment had to be stopped 20 minutes before. What happened suddenly that he was saved from dying?
According to the report of Mirror website, this case is from Texas, USA. 47-year-old Ruben Gutierrez is accused of killing an 85-year-old woman, Escolastica Harrison, in 1998 for her property. Actually, she was a retired teacher and lived in Brownsville. She did not trust the bank’s schemes, so she kept the Rs 5 crore she received after retirement with her at home.
Punishment stopped just 20 minutes before death
Ruben is accused of breaking into the woman’s house and killing her to steal money. The man was sentenced to death and was to be executed on 16 July 2024, i.e. last Tuesday. For this, he was to be killed by giving a poisonous injection inside a chamber in Huntsville, Texas. But his punishment had to be stopped just 20 minutes before death. The US Supreme Court stayed his death sentence. Ruben claimed from the beginning that DNA testing could save his life because it would reveal that he did not kill the woman.
Demand for DNA test
The court has said that the death sentence will remain stayed until the court decides whether to review his appeal request or not. If the court rejects his request, the stay will be lifted. The man’s lawyers have always said that there is no forensic evidence to prove that the man killed the woman. Two other people were also arrested in this case. The woman’s nails, hair and blood splatters found at the crime scene were never examined. Ruben himself had earlier confessed that he was involved in the planning of the theft and was inside the house when the woman died. However, his lawyer claims that he did not commit the murder.
