The latest Advisory filed with the 31st Texas District Court on DNA testing results in Hank Skinner's case is available in Adobe .pdf format.
The Texas Tribune posts, "Skinner's Lawyer, AG Disagree Over DNA Results," by Brandi Grissom.
Lawyers for death row inmate Hank Skinner say the latest round of DNA testing in the 1993 triple murder he was convicted for show that someone else likely committed the crime.
“In light of this latest round of DNA tests, supported by other exculpatory evidence, the doubts about Mr. Skinner’s guilt are far too substantial to allow his execution to proceed,” Douglas Robinson, an attorney for Skinner, wrote in an email.
But lawyers with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office argue that the same test results only reinforce Skinner’s guilt.
“The new round of testing does nothing to vindicate Hank Skinner in the murder of Twila Busby,” said Jerry Strickland, an Abbott spokesman.
And:
Prosecutors agreed to allow the DNA testing in June 2012, and on Aug. 6, lawyers received the results of a third round of tests — analysis of mitochondrial DNA on four hairs found on Busby’s hands. One of the hairs belonged to Skinner, which his lawyers say is unremarkable because he lived in the home where the killing occurred. The other three hairs came from the “maternally-related line of persons that included the victims.” A previous examination of those hairs indicated they weren't from the victims.
The testing on the hairs, Skinner’s lawyers argue, aligns with their contention that the killer was likely Busby’s maternal uncle, who they allege had a history of violence and had been making unwanted sexual advances toward her the night of the crime.
"Skinner's lawyers say DNA testing points to relative of victims," is Allan Turner's Houston Chronicle report.
Attorneys for convicted triple killer Henry Skinner on Thursday told a Texas Panhandle court that mitrochondrial DNA testing of hairs in one victim's hand supports their contention that their client is innocent.
In an advisory to Pampa's 31st District Court, lawyer Rob Owen reported that three hairs found in the hand of Twila Busby, who was bludgeoned to death in the home she shared with Skinner, belonged to a maternal relative of the victims. Earlier state testing showed the hairs did not come from Busby or her sons, Edwin Caler and Randy Busby, who also were killed.
A fourth hair, Owen conceded, came from Skinner.
Owen argues that the test results "support the inference that Robert Donnell, a maternal relative of the victims and the man who stalked Ms. Busby and frightened her with crude sexual advances less than an hour before she was murdered, committed the crimes." Donnell since has died.
AFP posts, "New evidence could free US death row inmate." It's also available via Global Post.
New DNA evidence could help exonerate a man on death row in the US state of Texas for the murder of his girlfriend and her two adult sons, his lawyers claimed Thursday.Hank Skinner, 51, has been on death row for 20 years over the 1993 triple murder. He has always denied the charges against him.
A private Virginia laboratory on Thursday published the results of tests conducted on four hairs found in the hand of the slain woman, Twila Busby -- and three of them show a family link with the three victims.
The fourth belongs to Skinner -- a result the lawyers called "unremarkable," given that the accused lived in Busby's house.
"The doubts about Mr. Skinner's guilt are far too weighty to allow his execution to proceed," said his attorneys, Robert Owen and Douglas Robinson.
"DNA Testing Allegedly Supports Skinners Claims," is from KAMR-TV. There is video at the link.
Attorneys for death row inmate Hank Skinner say DNA testing points to his innocence.
Independent testing done by Skinner's defense team allegedly identifies a relative of one of the murder victims as a possible suspect.
Skinner says a man named Robert Donnell, an uncle of victim Twila Busby, could be guilty of the triple murders that sent him to death row.
In an advisory filed with the court Thursday, Skinner's attorneys say their testing shows three hairs found in the hand of Twila Busby belong to a maternal relative, implying Donnell may have been at the scene.
They concede a fourth hair belongs to skinner.
Earlier coverage of Hank Skinner's case begins at the link. Related posts are in the DNA category index.
In 2011, Texas legislators strengthened access to post-conviction DNA testing. The original Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 64 process for post-conviction DNA testing was passed in 2001. Earlier this year, the Texas Legislature passed a measure requiring pre-trial DNA testing in capital murder cases. The measure becomes state law on Sunday.
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