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Supreme Court Stays Texas Death Row Inmate's Execution
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March 25, 2010 8:19 a.m. EST
Topics: death and dying, punishment, politics, social issue, human rights, execution, crime, law and justice, United States
Kris Alingod - AHN News Contributor
Austin, TX, United States (AHN) - The U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary reprieve to a convicted Texas killer late Wednesday, less than an hour before he was to be put to death. Hank Skinner is seeking DNA tests to prove his innocence, with backing by advocacy groups and lawmakers who have cited problems with his case.
Skinner had been scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. The Supreme Court issued its order 47 minutes before his death. The court said it would stay his execution until it decides on whether to consider his appeal.
He was convicted for the murders 16 years ago of his live-in girlfriend and her two adult sons, who suffered developmental problems. He was in their home when the New Year's Eve killings happened, but he claims to have been in a daze from drugs and alcohol he took earlier that day, and therefore unable to have carried out the crimes.
Skinner had filed a civil rights lawsuit, saying he had been denied access to DNA tests for 10 years. Prosecutors have tested selective evidence for DNA, he alleges, but have rejected his requests to test biological evidence that could determine conclusively his guilt or innocence.
Among the evidence Skinner wants tested for DNA are one victim's hairs and fingernail clippings, a windbreaker that could have belonged to the killer, and knives from the crime scene.
Apart from what advocacy groups say is inconclusive evidence, the Medill Innocence Project has cited the star witness' recantation of her testimony in a audio-taped interview to eight investigative journalism students in 1999. Blood tests on Skinner also showed he would not have had the strength or balance to commit the three murders, lending credence to his claim that he was unconscious from codeine and alcohol.
Despite the apparent problems in his conviction, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday unanimously rejected Skinner's request for clemency or a stay to conduct DNA tests.
State Sen. Rodney Ellis is one of several lawmakers to call for a stay so DNA testing can be carried out. He and the brother of Timothy Cole penned an op-ed in the Dallas Morning News this month calling for testing to avoid the possibility of putting an innocent man to death.
Cole was wrongly convicted of rape two decades ago and died in prison in 1999, more than a decade before he was pardoned by Texas Gov. Rick Perry after DNA tests proved his innocence.
The Dallas Morning News said in an editorial on Tuesday, "The Skinner appeal is more complicated; it involves credible charges of falsified trial testimony as well as post-trial evidence that allegedly points to a different suspect, a relative of the victim with a history of violence. What's more, there was no DNA testing of a long list of physical evidence."
A growing number prisoners nationwide have been exonerated through DNA tests. In December, a Florida man who spent 35 years in prison for raping a boy was freed after DNA evidence determined that he was not responsible for the crime.
According to the Innocence Project, DNA testing has overturned more than 250 wrongful convictions across the country, including 40 in Texas, the state with the highest number of executions.
Copyright © 2003 - 2010 AHN - All rights reserved.Redistribution, republication. syndication, rewriting or broadcast is prohibited without the prior written consent of AHN.License AHN news for your website, business, digital signage network or publication.
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