"Texas death row inmate asking courts to force prosecutor to turn over evidence for DNA tests," is this morning's AP post via the Washington Post.
Just weeks away from execution, a Texas death row inmate is asking the courts to force prosecutors to turn over knives and clothing that were never tested for DNA, claiming that the evidence could show he didn’t kill his girlfriend and her sons nearly two decades ago.
But prosecutors say the latest request from Henry Watkins Skinner, who came within an hour of lethal injection last year before the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in, is an empty tactic to again delay his death.
Both sides will argue their case Monday in Amarillo before federal Magistrate Judge Clinton Averitte. The hearing comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Skinner could ask for the untested evidence, but left unresolved whether those items had to be surrendered by Gray County District Attorney Lynn Switzer.
The ruling came in a federal lawsuit that Skinner filed against Switzer, claiming the state violated his civil rights by withholding access to the evidence. Prosecutors want the lawsuit tossed, while defense attorneys are asking Averitte to delay ruling on the federal suit until the DNA testing issue is decided at the state-court level.
Skinner, 49, is scheduled for execution Nov. 9.
And:
Skinner’s lawyers have already asked the state courts to delay the execution and want Averitte to withhold any decision on the federal lawsuit until a request for DNA testing before Skinner’s trial court — the third such request from Skinner — is resolved there. Defense attorneys also argue that a new state law allows DNA testing of evidence even if the offender chose not to seek testing before trial.
Ariane de Vogue posts, "Texas Death Row Inmate Wants Access to Untested DNA," at ABC News.
A Texas death row inmate who was hours from execution in 2010, now finds himself with two new avenues of appeal to attempt to prove his innocence through DNA testing.
For years since his murder conviction, Henry “Hank” Skinner had unsuccessfully sought access to untested DNA evidence found at the scene of the crime.
Last year, hours before his scheduled execution, a final appeal to the Supreme Court went in Skinner’s favor. The justices halted the execution and eventually ruled that he could go back to court and argue his case.
The ruling from the Supreme Court, coupled with a new DNA law passed in Texas last month, have given Skinner new hope that he might one day be found innocent of the death of his girlfriend and her two sons.
And:
While the Supreme Court did not weigh in on his guilt or innocence it said he could go to federal court and attempt to sue state officials under federal civil rights law.
At the same time, Skinner’s lawyers are pursuing a separate appeal in state court. Just last month Texas revised its DNA law to ensure that procedural barriers do not prevent prisoners from testing biological evidence that hadn’t been tested. Skinner’s lawyers have filed papers asking the court, pursuant to the new law, to compel the DNA testing.
“We are proceeding both in federal court and state court,” says Skinner’s lawyer, Rob Owen, “to leave no stone unturned.” Complicating Skinner’s appeal is that the trial judge set a new date for his execution in early November.
But the State of Texas believes that Skinner is abusing the system.
In court papers, Jonathan F. Mitchell, the Solicitor General of Texas, argues that at the time of his trial Skinner’s original attorneys made an “informed, tactical” decision to forego the testing because they feared it would further implicate their client.
The Amarillo Globe-News reports, "Skinner looks to federal court for hope," by Bobby Cervantes.
On Monday, the latest chapter in Skinner’s case begins at a federal courthouse in Amarillo, where U.S. Magistrate Judge Clinton E. Averitte will hear Skinner’s civil rights lawsuit. Another execution date looms, this one set for Nov. 9.
The new proceedings are the product of a last-minute stay of execution the United States Supreme Court granted in March — Skinner’s second since he has been on death row.
At issue was whether a federal civil rights lawsuit is a proper vehicle for a convicted prisoner to petition for access to DNA testing. A 6-3 majority on the court thought so, and Skinner’s attorneys swiftly filed the federal lawsuit that will be heard Monday.
Skinner contends additional DNA testing would exonerate him and implicate Busby’s late uncle.
In addition to the Supreme Court ruling, Skinner scored another victory in June, when lawmakers stripped Texas’ post-conviction statute of a once-powerful tool prosecutors and judges wielded to deny prisoners’ DNA petitions.
Previously, those who challenged their convictions citing untested DNA evidence had to prove, among other things, that the evidence was not tested at trial through no fault of their own.
"Federal judge to hear Texas death row inmate's civil rights case," is the AHN report written by Kris Alingod.
A federal judge on Monday was set to hear the case of a Texas death row inmate, Hank Skinner, who filed a civil rights lawsuit claiming prosecutors repeatedly denied him additional DNA testing.
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The hearing in Amarillo comes two months after a motion from Skinner that evidence should be turned over to the defense under a bill passed by the state legislature in May expanding access to post-conviction DNA testing.
The U.S. Supreme Court early this year ruled 6-3 in favor of Skinner, saying he could seek such tests under the federal civil rights statute. It issued a temporary stay last year while it considered the lawsuit, saving Skinner from the lethal injection by only 45 minutes.
No DNA tests have been conducted following the ruling and Texas has set a new execution date of Nov. 9.
The case has attracted widespread attention, with advocacy groups, pundits and some state lawmakers saying that while testing could show Skinner to be guilty, it could also prevent the execution of an innocent man.
Texas has the highest number of executions nationwide. In 2004, it executed Cameron Todd Willingham, who was later found to have been prosecuted using “flawed science" in an investigation by the Texas Forensic Science Commission.
Earlier coverage of Hank Skinner's quest for DNA testing begins at the link.
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