"TEXAS COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS HAS REFUSED TO HALT THE SCHEDULED EXECUTION NEXT WEEK OF A MAN CONVICTED OF A TRIPLE SLAYING IN PAMPA IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE MORE THAN 16 YEARS AGO. THE STATE'S HIGHEST CRIMINAL COURT WEDNESDAY DENIED A REQUEST FROM 47-YEAR-OLD HANK SKINNER TO STOP HIS LETHAL INJECTION, SET FOR MARCH 24 IN HUNTSVILLE.
MICHAEL GRACZYK: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS;
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BACKGROUND: The editor of the Texas Tribune says in a note that,"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 crime scene, but prosecutors say the time to contest his conviction has come and gone...... We told the story of the murders and his conviction and sentencing in the first part of this story." Reporter Brandi Grissom, author of the Tribune series on Hank Skinner, writes: "I interviewed Henry "Hank" Watkins Skinner, 47, at the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice — death row — on January 20, 2010. Skinner was convicted in 1995 of murdering his girlfriends and her two sons; the state has scheduled his execution for February 24. Skinner has always maintained that he's innocent and for 15 years has asked the state to release DNA evidence that he says will prove he was not the killer."
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"HOUSTON — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has refused to halt the scheduled execution next week of a man convicted of a triple slaying in Pampa in the Texas Panhandle more than 16 years ago," the Associated Press story, published earlier today under the heading "Killer of three in Texas loses bid for execution delay,"begins.
"The state's highest criminal court Wednesday denied a request from 47-year-old Hank Skinner to stop his lethal injection, set for March 24 in Huntsville," the story continues.
"Skinner contends he's innocent of fatally bludgeoning 40-year-old Twila Busby and fatally stabbing her two adult sons, 22-year-old Elwin Caler and 20-year-old Randy Busby. They were killed at their home on New Year's Eve in 1993.
Skinner and his attorneys want additional time to test evidence for DNA they say could prove he's not the killer.
Skinner says he couldn't have committed the murders because when they occurred, he was passed out on a couch, sick from alcohol and codeine use."
The story can be found at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/killer-of-3-in-texas-loses-bid-for-378166.html
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
