Decline in death penalty driven by COVID-19 pandemic, shift in prosecutor support FacebookTwitterEmail Geronimo Gutierrez, 24, was convicted in the 1999 shotgun murder of Rick Marin. Earlier this year, Gutierrez’s death sentence was reduced to life in prison after prosecutors and judges agreed he had an intellectual disability. He was one of six men whose sentences were reduced based on claims of intellectual disabilities, according to a new report.Jerry Lara /Staff photographer Use of the death penalty in Texas has dropped sharply in recent years, partly because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the election of prosecutors focused on criminal justice reform, a new report found.