A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Tuesday granted a stay of execution for Ruben Gutierrez, a Texas death row inmate who was scheduled to die next week.

Gutierrez has continually maintained his innocence in the 1998 murder of Escolastica Harrison when Gutierrez was 20. Harrison reportedly did not believe in banks, and the trailer park owner kept over $600,000 in her home. During an attempt to steal money by Gutierrez and two other accomplices she was fatally stabbed.

Gutierrez’s attorneys have continually challenged his conviction. Primarily, they have attempted to secure a DNA test of the currently available evidence in an attempt to definitively show if Gutierrez was responsible for the crime. Gutierrez’s attorneys have also attempted to delay the execution using several different legal challenges.

They have argued that the state’s policy, which blocks all chaplains and spiritual advisers from entering the execution chamber, violates Gutierrez’s First Amendment rights. Gutierrez himself has requested a Christian chaplain to accompany him throughout his execution. However, they also have a still-pending appeal with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which argues that the execution should be stayed until after the end of the COVID-19 epidemic due to complications caused by the pandemic and the limitations it has imposed on investigation and travel.

In its ruling the court found that “Gutierrez has made a showing of likelihood of success on the merits of at least one of his DNA or execution-chamber claims,” and that “his execution scheduled for June 16, 2020 after 6:00 p.m. is STAYED pending resolution of this § 1983 action.” The court also hopes that a stay of execution “will allow this Court to resolve the serious factual and legal issues that remain pending.”

This is Gutierrez’s second stay of execution, as he was originally scheduled to be executed in 2018. A judge previously granted the first stay of execution when Guiterrez’s previous attorney requested to be taken off of the case causing the execution to be moved to June 16, where it remained until Tuesday. However, the Texas Attorney General’s Office has reportedly already appealed the ruling to the US Court o Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.