Texas Death Row Inmate Skinner Gets Stay
All she could do was cry. The day after Kristen Keaton first met her dad, death row inmate Hank Skinner, the U.S. Supreme Court spared his life.
“I’m just so excited, and I thank God,” said the 26-year-old mother and accountant who lives in North Carolina. “I’m so relieved.”
Skinner was set to die Wednesday for the 1993 murders of his live-in girlfriend, Twila Busby, and her two mentally disabled adult sons — a massacre he says he did not commit. For more than a decade, Skinner has been asking Texas courts to test a slew of DNA ...
Comments (4)
TexasAnn
I wonder who's crying for Twila and her two mentally handicapped sons. Oh well, I guess they don't matter.
Robbie Cooper
Extensive DNA testing was performed during the investigation. That DNA testing confirmed that the victim's blood was all over Skinner's clothing.
The blood splatter analysis of Skinner's shirt confirmed conclusively that Skinner did indeed kill Twila Busby.
The rape kit was not DNA tested because forensic evidence showed that Twila was not raped.... See More
The question before the SCOTUS is whether a defendant can request DNA testing under this particular federal law. If the answer is yes, then they will order the case back to the lower court to hear the claim. The lower court would still have to rule whether or not to grant DNA testing. Just because you may have the right for a court to hear your case on an issue doesn’t mean you will win.
Since further testing of DNA will not be exculpatory,SCOTUS may deny his petition outright instead of wasting time sending it down to a lower court for them to deny it, resulting in Skinner once again appealing the denial to higher courts and winding up back in the SCOTUS.
They aren’t into exercises into futility. And as yet, no one has come up with any plausible theory on how further DNA testing would prove Skinner innocent.
JimB
Why collect a rape kit and not test it? It seems that some post trial testing was done and it was exculpatory. The testing will be done at no expense to the State. Just do it!
catherineturley
the print on the bag containing a knife and bloody towel was not hank's. the hair in twila's hand was not hank's. evidence under twila's fingernails was not tested. semen in twila's underwear was not tested. if all of this evidence were tested and came back consistent with donnell, there would be reasonable doubt.