State Backs DNA Testing for Hank Skinner
Reversing its decade-long objection to testing that death row inmate Hank Skinner says could prove his innocence, the Texas Attorney General's office today filed an advisory with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals seeking to test DNA in the case.
"Upon further consideration, the State believes that the interest of justice would best be served by DNA testing the evidence requested by Skinner and by testing additional items identified by the state," lawyers for the state wrote in the advisory.
Skinner, now 50, was convicted in 1995 of the strangulation and beating death of his girlfriend Twila Busby and ...
Comments (5)
Randall D. Craig via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Elections are amazing things. All it took was one DA getting beat for opposing DNA testing, and the AG starts crawdading all over the place.
Leigh Culver via Texas Tribune on Facebook
These elected officials are so worried about their reputations. If there is a way to find someone innocent, then they should be going forward w/o question.
R. S.
It is so frustrating for people like me that are not pro-death penalty or anti-death penalty to see an article that fails to include so many facts. Why would the author intentionally fail to include crucial information?
It makes one wonder if the author has a point of view that they are trying to push.
Skinner's DNA was found at the crime scene. Skinner's defense lawyer, at trial, requested that certain items NOT be tested for DNA. Why? Because he knew it would condemn his client. Now, as Skinner is facing execution, he wants that evidence tested.
I can't blame him for asking for the test. But I don't understand why the media FAILS to report the facts of this case. It is very worrisome for our democracy when the media hides the facts. It is scary.
Katie Thorpe
It's about time! This should never have been such a struggle to get the DNA tested! This man is sentenced to die, and the state didn't want to make sure or let citizens know whether this is the guilty man who is gonna die? That is absolutely ridiculous! Thank God the judges who recently heard the appeal to test the DNA were honest, reasonable people! Now the stupid prosecutors and attorney general's office people are trying to act like they are in agreement with it, almost like it's their idea, even, what nerve! It truly amazes and sickens me to see how prosecutors act in cases like this because they're truly NOT seeking justice but a winning record and these prosecutors are going too far with stubbornness and self-righteousness instead of being the humble, justice-seeking officers of the court that we thought we elected and voted for in the attorney general's office.
Katie Thorpe
@ R.S. - I have read the transcripts and everything on this case, and the DNA was never tested in the first place. Hank Skinner was relying on his attorney's professional advice at trial not to test the DNA, and after conviction Skinner has asked that it be tested because he is innocent, which there are several other facts that prove his innocence, like the codeine allergy that I happen to have, as well, that causes him to be unconscious and completely weak, too weak to fight and stab and kill three adults. Also, since he has been asking that the DNA be tested, this was on Nancy Grace and a journalist named David Protess got on the show and volunteered to the prosecutor to pay for testing himself, and the prosecutor agreed on tv, so the very first test that was done was on a hair that Twila Busby was clutching in her hand, and the DNA did NOT match Hank Skinner's. So what did the prosecutor do? She immediately cut off any further testing on the DNA! She has refused all requests by everyone and anyone to test any of the remaining DNA! It sickens and appalls me to know that there are people who are pretending to seek justice for victims when they are truly only trying to make themselves look good by gaining convictions instead of seeking justice!