"The Supreme Court's decision today is a victory on the path toward truth-seeking."
EDITOR MICHAEL LANDAUER; THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS;
We look forward to making our case in federal court that Texas's inexplicable refusal to grant Mr. Skinner access to evidence for DNA testing is fundamentally unfair and cannot stand.
ATTORNEY ROBERT OWEN;
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BACKGROUND: "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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The Supreme Court's decision today is a victory on the path toward truth-seeking," the Dallas Morning News editorial by Michael Landauer published earlier today under the heading, "Hank Skinner decision a step toward truth-seeking," begins.
"It's often been said by Sharon Keller and others on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that finality is the ultimate goal in the appeals process. That's why so many of their death penalty rulings are so narrowly focused on what procedures were followed and when," the story continues.
"But today's ruling opens the door to a civil rights action that might result in a fundamental rethinking of that line of argument. Truth seeking should trump procedure.
Statement from Robert C. Owen, Attorney for Hank Skinner, Re: Today's U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Skinner v. Switzer:
"We are very pleased with today's decision by the Supreme Court, holding that Mr. Skinner may invoke the protections of the federal Civil Rights Act in his effort to obtain access to evidence for DNA testing.
"The Court's action corrects the Fifth Circuit's fundamental misunderstanding of this important principle. As Justice Ginsberg states in her majority opinion, there is no reason to fear that lawsuits like Mr. Skinner's will overwhelm the federal courts. The high court's ruling will simply make it possible for Mr. Skinner to vindicate his due process rights in federal court, a right long enjoyed by prisoners in other parts of the country.
"We look forward to making our case in federal court that Texas's inexplicable refusal to grant Mr. Skinner access to evidence for DNA testing is fundamentally unfair and cannot stand.""
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The editorial can be found at:
http://deathpenaltyblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/hank-skinner-decision-a-step-t.html
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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;
