"WE URGE THE GOVERNOR TO TAKE THE REASONABLE AND FAIR ACTION OF HALTING MR. SKINNER'S EXECUTION SO THAT READILY AVAILABLE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE CAN BE TESTED BEFORE HE IS PUT TO DEATH ON WEDNESDAY. TO DO ANYTHING LESS MEANS THAT THE STATE OF TEXAS IS WILLING TO RISK THE EXECUTION OF AN INNOCENT MAN."
ROB OWEN: ONE OF HANK SKINNER'S LAWYERS;
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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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The following is a statement from Rob Owen, one of Mr. Skinner's attorneys, in response to the Board's recommendation.
"We are disheartened that the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has turned a deaf ear to Mr. Skinner's plea for a stay of execution to allow for DNA testing of key evidence that could prove his innocence. It is now more urgent than ever that Governor Rick Perry not allow Wednesday's execution to proceed until all of the facts are in. We urge the governor to take the reasonable and fair action of halting Mr. Skinner's execution so that readily available scientific evidence can be tested before he is put to death on Wednesday. To do anything less means that the State of Texas is willing to risk the execution of an innocent man."
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
