"At issue in the case is whether a convicted prisoner seeking access to biological evidence for DNA testing may assert that claim in a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, or whether such a claim may be asserted only in a petition for writ of habeas corpus."
SCOTUSblog;
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BACKGROUND OF APPEAL: Skinner v. Switzer, No. 09-9000, an appeal from Hank Skinner, an inmate in Texas who is seeking access to DNA evidence that he says could prove his innocence. In March, the court granted a stay of execution less than an hour before Mr. Skinner was to be put to death in the murder of his girlfriend and her two sons. Mr. Skinner seeks to test blood, fingernail scrapings and hair found at the scene of the killings. He maintains that he was sleeping on a sofa in a stupor induced by vodka and codeine when the killings took place on Dec. 31, 1993. Prosecutors say he is making his request too late. They add that testing would be pointless because "no item of evidence exists that would conclusively prove that Skinner did not commit the murder." Reporter Adam Liptak: New York Times;
BACKGROUND OF CASE: "Hank Skinner faces execution 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; 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." Texas Tribune;
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Argument day podcast: Skinner v. Switzer
Argument day podcast with respondent’s counsel in Skinner v. Switzer.
Continuing our series of podcasts on oral argument days, we have below a podcast with Edward C. Dawson, counsel for respondent Lynn Switzer in Skinner v. Switzer (No. 09-9000). Mr. Dawson is a partner at Yetter Coleman LLP. At issue in the case is whether a convicted prisoner seeking access to biological evidence for DNA testing may assert that claim in a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, or whether such a claim may be asserted only in a petition for writ of habeas corpus. To listen to the podcasts, click the the purple images on the right.
Note: We had also planned (and hoped) to have counsel for petitioner Henry Skinner participate in the podcast, but at the last minute he was unable to do so. Thus, unlike earlier podcasts, this podcast features only counsel for the respondent, which we are posting without regard to her likelihood of success in the case.
For the respondents, their counsel:
Edward C. Dawson, Parter at Yetter Coleman LLP
Subscribe to the SCOTUSblog feed on iTunes to receive our latest podcasts.
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The SCOTUSblog page with the link to the Podcast can be found at:
http://www.scotusblog.com/2010/10/argument-day-podcast-skinner-v-switzer/
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
