STORY: "Texas lawman to High Court: DNA testing "frivolous" in death penalty case," a commentary by David Protess, President of the Chicago Innocence Project, in the Huffington Post, on May 4, 2012.
GIST: "So what's really behind Texas' decade-long battle to prevent the testing? Last November, I reported in the Huffington Post that Texas feared what the results might reveal. When the D.A. who prosecuted Skinner secretly conducted tests on some of the evidence after the trial, he was stunned to learn that several of the results excluded Skinner. Bloody gauze from the front sidewalk, blood on a cassette recorder and hair taken from the female victim's hand -- all pointed to someone else. But who? Mounting evidence suggests that Twila Busby's uncle may have been in the home that night. He had been stalking her at a New Year's Eve party right before the murders, had left the party soon after she headed home, and was seen scrubbing clean his pick-up truck on New Year's morning. Perhaps most important, the uncle regularly wore a windbreaker exactly like the one found next to his niece's body. No wonder Texas lawmen don't want that jacket tested. No wonder they have gone to great lengths to fight forensics on the rape kit and murder weapons -- or any further DNA testing after the exculpatory results were reported to the D.A.'s office. Fortunately, the judges of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals don't seem to be buying what the prosecution is selling."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-protess/hank-skinner-dna-testing_b_1476334.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I am monitoring this case. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.
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
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
