More on the Hank Skinner Case

David Protess, Director of the acclaimed Medill Innocence Project at Northwestern University in Chicago, was interviewed recently by the Houston Independent Media Center, broadcast on KPFT-FM.  It's online at, "Hank Skinner: Another Question of Innocence on Texas Death Row."  Rachel Clarke conducted the interview.

Hank Skinner has been on death row for the last 15 years after being convicted of killing his life partner and her two adult disabled children. As the execution date quickly approaches, a number of questions still remain. Questions that could be easily cleared up with DNA testing that the state so far has refused to grant. Dr. Protess, a professor at Northwest University, shares more about the doubts and unanswered questions that linger and makes a direct plea to Governor Perry to save Skinner's life.

The Medill Innocence Project highlights the case in the post, "Will Texas Soon Execute Another Innocent Man? Our Reporting Challenges Verdict As Clock Ticks.  An excerpt:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is under fire for allegedly obstructing an investigation into the wrongful execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was put to death in 2004 -- despite forensic tests proving he did not murder his three young children.

Four years earlier, Gary Graham was carried to Texas’ death chamber defiantly proclaiming his innocence in the face of new evidence that even the murder victim’s widow called “reasonable doubt.”

Investigative stories have revealed that Ruben Cantu in 1989 and Carlos DeLuna in 1993 likely suffered the same unjust fate at the hands of Texas executioners.

Now the clock is ticking on another Texas death row inmate who has steadfastly maintained his innocence – with credible evidence to support his claim. The condemned man is Henry Watkins “Hank” Skinner, and much of that evidence was unearthed by the Medill Innocence Project and reported in the January 28 and 29 editions of the Texas Tribune, "Case Open" and "Case Open: The Investigation". Yet, Skinner faces death by lethal injection on February 24, less than two weeks from now.

Texas continues to lead the nation in executions. But will the state earn the dubious distinction of executing five innocents in two decades? Hank Skinner’s fate lies in the hands of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Gov. Perry and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Here is a synopsis of the case, spotlighting the evidence developed by Medill student-journalists who traveled to Texas’ death row and to the crime scene in search of the truth. For a more detailed account, read my testimony to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, and today's appeal by Skinner's lawyers to the Supreme Court.

Earlier coverage of the Skinner case begins with this post linking to an essay by retired Federal District Judge H. Lee Sarokin, urging the post-conviction DNA testing that could prove his innocence.

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For a full color, full page, compelling graphic summarizing all the DNA untested in the Hank Skinner case, please visit www.skepticaljuror.com