The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) has stayed the execution of Juan Castillo to review claims of false testimony. This marks the sixth case granted a stay by the CCA this year. Castillo was scheduled to be executed on December 14, 2017, for the 2003 murder and robbery of Tommy Garcia, Jr. in San Antonio. In August, Castillo’s execution was halted due to Hurricane Harvey.
The Texas Tribune reports:
One of the witnesses at his trial, Gerardo Gutierrez, bunked near Castillo at the Bexar County Jail and testified that Castillo had confessed to the crime in jail. But in 2013, Gutierrez signed an affidavit saying that he lied in his testimony “to try to help myself.”
Read coverage from the Texas Tribune and the Houston Chronicle. The complete orders from the CCA are available here.
Castillo’s execution was the last scheduled by the State of Texas for the year. In 2017, the State of Texas executed 7 individuals. There are currently 5 executions scheduled for 2018.