The latest Texas death row news from The Texas Tribune.
Chromosal Laboratories, a DNA testing lab in Phoenix, Ariz., told Gov. Rick Perry that it will test evidence in the Hank Skinner case for free and within 30 days if he grants a reprieve of the convicted murderer's March 24 execution date. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/012710_hankskinner001.jpg)
Lawyers for death row inmate Hank Skinner sent Gov. Rick Perry a letter yesterday asking him for a 30-day reprieve from Skinner's scheduled March 24 execution. The lawyers also asked Perry to order DNA testing on evidence that Skinner says could prove his innocence. Full Story
In an unexpected reversal, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has thrown out Charles Dean Hood's death sentence on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court appeal and national media attention. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/scotus_chamber.jpg)
A Supreme Court appeal has breathed new life into a two-decade-old scandal — this one with details a little less banal than a judge’s strict adherence to closing time. Full Story
The trial judge who initially decided Hank Skinner would die Feb. 24 — one week from today — has pushed the execution date back to March 24, says Skinner attorney Rob Owen, co-director of the University of Texas at Austin’s Capital Punishment Clinic. Full Story
Texans are more worried about the economy and the direction of the country than anything else, according to the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. Other notable findings: Nearly two-thirds support either gay marriage or civil unions, nearly half prefer private health insurance to a government-run plan, and more than a third think the Legislature meets every year. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/rightrackwrongtrack_jv.png)
Getting a look at correspondence, documents, reports, etc. related to death row inmate Hank Skinner's case is proving more difficult than I imagined. Full Story
It took a crew of eight Northwestern University students to bring national attention to questions about Hank Skinner's death sentence. But his legal pleas for more DNA testing of crime scene evidence — and his lawsuit against the Gray County district attorney — have gone nowhere. Unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, he'll be executed on Feburary 24. Full Story
Hank Skinner is set to be executed for a 1993 murder he's always maintained he didn't commit. He wants the state to test whether his DNA matches evidence found at the scene, but prosecutors say the time to contest his conviction has come and gone. He has less than a month to change their minds. Full Story
Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the state's highest criminal court, will not be removed from the bench following a trial and review by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/b7ae0e1ced0717627d916064e1228019/BD%20INC%20Sharon%20Keller%2001%202009)
Gov. Rick Perry won't grant clemency to Robert Lee Thompson, who was sentenced to death under Texas' controversial "law of parties." Full Story
John Bradley, the Williamson County District Attorney and the newly-appointed chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, spent his morning answering a steady stream of questions from Texas lawmakers. At issue, if and when his panel will re-open the investigation into whether faulty science led to the arson conviction of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed by the state in 2004. Full Story
Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley expected some verbal jousting today at the Senate Criminal Justice Committee about his plans for the Texas Forensic Science Commission. He was right. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/bradley-whitmire111009.jpg)
If you're waiting for closure on questions of Cameron Todd Willingham's guilt or innocence, get comfortable. The Texas Forensic Science Commission's new chair tells the Tribune that he doesn't yet have the rules or resources to investigate whether faulty science led to the Corsicana man's conviction and execution. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/110709_bradley_001_jv.png)
Just days before it was set to review a case in which the state has been accused of executing an innocent man, Gov. Rick Perry replaced the chairman and two other members of an independent state forensics panel. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/IMG_0046-perry.jpg)