From EJUSA, a good summary of Hank Skinner death row case

I've written before about the case of Texas death row inmate Hank Skinner. Skinner was convicted of three 1993 murders that he maintains he did not commit. To back up Skinner's claims of innocence, there appears to be DNA evidence that could exonerate him in this case. However, Texas has refused to test that DNA.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear the case. That is expected to happen during the upcoming fall term.

Meantime, in a recent newsletter to supporters, the organization Equal Justice USA did a good job of summarizing the Skinner case. I thought it worth sharing:

Whoops! You're Dead.

Henry "Hank" Skinner has been on Texas' death row since 1993. He came within one hour of execution - even though there are several key pieces of DNA evidence in his case that have never been tested.

Skinner has spent ten years trying to get the testing, but the prosecutors refused (even with Medill Innocence Project offering to cover the costs). The Texas court agreed with the prosecutors, saying that DNA testing is not a constitutional right.

Such an absurd stance might be expected in Texas, but surely they are the exception to the rule, right? Not quite. In a similar case last year, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that convicted people are not entitled to testing on evidence, even if it might prove their innocence.

Fortunately, a couple of weeks ago the Supreme Court agreed to consider Skinner's request for DNA testing. This should be a no-brainer, but the system's capacity for mistakes seems infinite.

As if on cue, El Paso, Texas had to fire its Chief Medical Examiner just days after the Court agreed to consider Skinner's request. The Medical Examiner lied about his credentials, and his faulty evidence in one Ohio death penalty case forced the Governor to step in. How many more of his lies might be too late to catch?

We will never eliminate error completely in criminal justice. But when it comes to life and death, how wrong are we prepared to be?

And what the hell is Texas thinking? (Rhetorical question, of course.)

Stay tuned for updates.