Henry Skinner's date with the executioner extended

Yesterday the anti-death penalty groups were holding a death watch for death row inmate Henry Skinner. Even the French embassy weighed in on Mr. Skinner's behalf.

However, late yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court delayed the execution.

We visited the issue last month, see Henry Watkins Skinner waits on death row for some background. The mug shot comes from Mr. Skinner's TDCJ page.

Mr. Skinner's defense team wants more of the evidence tested for DNA identification. However, the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that he couldn't get it, because as a strategy in the trial he declined to ask for it. The logic behind that rule is that a defendant could decline testing before trial for fear that the evidence might be more persuasive of guilt than innocence. But if the case went against him, he could seek the test afterward because he would have nothing to lose at that point.

The rule makes sense. But it also makes martyrs. Maybe Mr. Skinner is innocent, but there was a lot of evidence pointing in his direction. Read the Court of Criminal Appeals ruling for a summary of the facts on which the jury relied and draw your own conclusion.

In the minds of some, Texas juries are sending innocent people to death row right and left, and this one has become such a celebrated case that there really should be some additional DNA testing just to put the restless minds at ease. Prosecutors in all capital murder cases should have all evidence capable of DNA testing tested even if there is other conclusive evidence of guilt just to neutralize issues raised later.

In the meantime, there's an interesting character in the periphery, Mike Graczyk, Associated Press reporter. He has carved out a niche for himself in the newspaper business as a Texas death row reporter. And while there's nothing exceptional about that, but Mr. Graczyk not only writes about people on death row, he has the macabre practice of watching them die. His name appears prominently on the TDCJ witness list, and according to CNN's count, as of last summer Mr. Graczyk had witnessed 315 executions.

Updated 5/24/2010: Supreme Court to consider case.  Houston Chronicle:

Acting on a petition from condemned killer Henry W. Skinner, the U.S. Supreme Court today announced it will consider whether inmates' requests for DNA testing can be considered as civil rights claims — a question that has split the nation's top federal courts.

Comments

[Papoose]

I think testing existing DNA from the crime scene should be done and a law should exist for it. The results and the evidence should be used to determine innocence. The fact that the result is accurate takes it out of the category with lie detector tests which may or may not be accurate. The only exception with DNA would be if the person happened to be a chimera, which would require(I think) that the same kind of sample be tested: blood/blood; semen/semen; sputum/sputum, etc.

[James]

It's kind of tough to get a semen sample from a defendant that doesn't want to give one, don't you think?

I'm not sure what the rate of chimeras is, but I don't know that it is enough to create a blanket law for it.

[Top Grade Acai]

very informational... educative as well, i read and felt like reading over and over again....good job!

[Papoose]

James, Well...I really think it could be done. Think. I certainly don't know the rate that a chimera is produced. However, the only real accuracy would be to consider each one a chimera and compare the same type sample from the suspect as found at the scene.

You're probably right, though, that a state wouldn't create a blanket law for it. That being said, I still believe DNA comparison should be made and a law passed requiring it. At least the probability of executing(if you must)an innocent man would be lower than no comparison.

[Debbie]

he is guilty of COLD BLOODED MURDER, he killed 2 mentally challenged young men and their mom. look at the evidence...........

i write this in memory of those boys grandmother Beverly, she did not live long enough to see this through