"THE INNOCENCE PROJECT DOESN’T REPRESENT SKINNER, AND WE DON’T KNOW WHETHER HE IS INNOCENT OR GUILTY. BUT WE KNOW THAT WHEN DNA TESTING CAN BE CONDUCTED TO RESOLVE CASES LIKE THIS, IT SHOULD BE. WE ALSO AREN’T ALONE IN CALLING FOR DNA TESTING. SAM MILLSAP, A FORMER TEXAS PROSECUTOR, WROTE LAST WEEK IN THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE THAT TEXAS SHOULD ORDER THE TESTS, ASKING: "BEFORE WE SEND A MAN TO HIS DEATH, SHOULDN'T WE DO EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO BE CERTAIN OF HIS GUILT?" IN 2004, CAMERON TODD WILLINGHAM WAS EXECUTED IN TEXAS DESPITE MOUNTING EVIDENCE OF HIS INNOCENCE. AS WILLINGHAM’S LAWYERS MADE LAST-MINUTE PLEAS FOR FURTHER REVIEW, BUT PERRY DECLINED TO GRANT A STAY OR COMMUTATION. SINCE WILLINGHAM’S EXECUTION, MORE THAN HALF A DOZEN INDEPENDENT ARSON EXPERTS HAVE SAID HE WAS CONVICTED BASED ON FAULTY EVIDENCE. LAST YEAR, A REPORT IN THE NEW YORKER DISCREDITED EVERY PIECE OF EVIDENCE USED TO CONVICT HIM, PROVIDING COMPELLING EVIDENCE THAT AN INNOCENT MAN HAD BEEN EXECUTED. TEXAS SHOULD NOT EXECUTE HANK SKINNER WITHOUT DOING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO KNOW WHETHER HE IS GUILTY OR INNOCENT. PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW AND CALL ON GOV. PERRY TO ORDER DNA TESTING BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE."
THE INNOCENCE PROJECT; (RELEASED EARLIER TODAY);
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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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"Hank Skinner is set to be executed next Wednesday in Texas for a crime he says he didn’t commit. Can you spend 30 seconds right now to join the call for DNA testing in his case?," the Innocence Project plea begins.
"DNA evidence that could prove Skinner’s innocence or guilt has never been tested. Today, Texas' highest criminal court refused to intervene in the case, meaning Perry is among his last hopes for justice," it continues.
"We’re writing today to ask you to urge Texas Gov. Rick Perry to order a stay of execution so DNA testing can proceed in Skinner’s case. Your voice can make a difference.
Hank Skinner was convicted in 1995 of killing his live-in girlfriend and her two adult sons. He has consistently maintained his innocence and has sought DNA testing through various courts for a decade. Skinner’s attorneys say they have developed evidence since his trial that calls his guilt into doubt and points to the possible involvement of an alternate suspect. Among the evidence Skinner is seeking to test are knives from the crime scene, hairs from the victim’s hand and a windbreaker possibly worn by the perpetrator.
The Innocence Project doesn’t represent Skinner, and we don’t know whether he is innocent or guilty. But we know that when DNA testing can be conducted to resolve cases like this, it should be. We also aren’t alone in calling for DNA testing. Sam Millsap, a former Texas prosecutor, wrote last week in the Houston Chronicle that Texas should order the tests, asking: "Before we send a man to his death, shouldn't we do everything in our power to be certain of his guilt?"
In 2004, Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas despite mounting evidence of his innocence. As Willingham’s lawyers made last-minute pleas for further review, but Perry declined to grant a stay or commutation. Since Willingham’s execution, more than half a dozen independent arson experts have said he was convicted based on faulty evidence. Last year, a report in the New Yorker discredited every piece of evidence used to convict him, providing compelling evidence that an innocent man had been executed.
Texas should not execute Hank Skinner without doing everything possible to know whether he is guilty or innocent. Please take action now and call on Gov. Perry to order DNA testing before it’s too late.
Thank you,
The Innocence Project."
http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/2415.php
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
