Kim Kardashian West has welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to grant a stay of execution to a prisoner whose cause she has championed.
The reality TV star turned criminal justice campaigner had called for a reprieve for Ruben Gutierrez, a Texas inmate sentenced to death for murdering an 85-year-old woman in 1998.
He maintains his innocence and supporters, including Kardashian West, have called on authorities to test DNA collected from the victim’s body in a bid to prove he is not guilty.
Thank you Supreme Court of the United States for granting a Stay of Execution for Ruben Gutierrez! Now his case will go back to the lower courts to decide the issues with his case!
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 16, 2020
Gutierrez was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on Tuesday, but the Supreme Court blocked his execution about an hour beforehand.
Gutierrez’s lawyers successfully argued his religious rights are being violated because the Texan prison system will not allow a chaplain to accompany him to death row.
Reacting to the news, Kardashian West said: “Thank you Supreme Court of the United States for granting a Stay of Execution for Ruben Gutierrez! Now his case will go back to the lower courts to decide the issues with his case!”
Kardashian West, 39, has become a prominent criminal justice reform campaigner and is studying for a law degree.
Her work has led to several prisoners being freed, perhaps most notably Alice Johnson, a woman convicted of drug and money laundering charges in 1996.
She was released from prison in June 2018 after Kardashian West asked Donald Trump to grant her clemency.
Kardashian West has visited the White House as part of her campaigning, including in March when she was accompanied by three women who had their sentences commuted by Mr Trump.
She has documented her work in the programme Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project.