"So the Texas legislature passed a new law inspired in part by Skinner’s case. One co-sponsor even said he hoped the law would give Skinner the testing he had been requesting. The prosecutors responded by . . . requesting an execution date. It’s like they want to be sure Skinner is dead before his lawyers can use the new law to get relief."
RADLEY BALKO; THE AGITATOR; Radley Balko is currently a senior writer for Huffington Post, where he does investigative reporting on civil liberties and the criminal justice system, and write about music and culture in Nashville.
----------------------------------------------------------
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......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;
"I have a new piece on the Skinner case up at Huffington Post today," The Agitator post by Radley Balko published earlier today under the heading, "Wilful ignorance and the looming execution of Hank Skinner" begins.
"If you’ve been following the case, you know most of the details," the post continues.
"But here’s a new twist:
Last year, with Skinner less than an hour from execution, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay to consider whether federal civil rights law may allow Skinner to challenge the way Texas courts have interpreted the state law that allows inmates to get DNA testing post-conviction. In March the Court ruled 6-3 that it did. The Court didn’t order the DNA testing. Rather, the decision only granted Skinner the ability to argue in federal court that Texas state courts had erred in how they applied the state’s DNA testing law.
The Texas legislature has since rendered that question moot. Last June, both houses overwhelmingly passed a revision to the DNA testing law to clarify that inmates should be able to request testing even if their counsel did not request any at trial. Lawmakers even cited Skinner’s case in passing the legislation. Hank Skinner, it seemed, would finally get his DNA tests.
And here’s where D.A. Lynn Switzer began to appear determined to carry out the execution of Hank Skinner. The new law took effect on Sept. 1, 2011. Skinner’s attorneys immediately filed for testing under the new law. Switzer’s office responded by requesting an execution date. They got it: Nov. 9.
So the Texas legislature passed a new law inspired in part by Skinner’s case. One co-sponsor even said he hoped the law would give Skinner the testing he had been requesting. The prosecutors responded by . . . requesting an execution date. It’s like they want to be sure Skinner is dead before his lawyers can use the new law to get relief.
The post can be found at:http://www.theagitator.com/2011/11/03/willful-ignorance-and-the-looming-execution-of-hank-skinner/
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 found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
