The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday evening delaying the planned execution of a Texas prisoner convicted of a 1998 murder, as the justices consider whether to hear his appeal challenging the state’s DNA testing law.

Ruben Gutierrez says he has been fighting for more than a decade to obtain DNA testing to show the murder was committed by his accomplices and that he should therefore be spared the death penalty. Rebuffed at every turn, Gutierrez ultimately filed a civil rights lawsuit challenging the limits that Texas law places on postconviction DNA testing.