The U.S. Supreme Court stopped the Hank Skinner execution about an hour before he could have been taken to the Texas death chamber. The brief order grants him the delay but does not ensure he will get such testing. The court order came as relatives of Busby were climbing the steps of the Huntsville prison to prepare to witness his punishment.
In the order, the justices said they would put off the Hank Skinner execution until they decide whether to review his case. If the court refuses the review, the reprieve is lifted, according to the order, and that would make Skinner eligible for another execution date.
Hank Skinner , in a small holding cell a few feet from the death chamber, expressed surprise when was informed of the reprieve in a phone call from his lawyer. Rob Owen, Skinner’s lead attorney and a University of Texas law professor, said the court action suggested the justices believed “there are important issues that require closer examination.”
“We remain hopeful that the court will agree to hear Mr. Skinner’s case and ultimately allow him the chance to prove his innocence through DNA testing,” he said. Read more here.
The Case
Hank Skinner is on death row for the 1993 murders of Twila Busby and her two mentally impaired sons Randy Busby and Elwin Caler. Skinner is supported by various organizations who are fighting for post-conviction access to pretrial evidence to be tested with modern technology in particular testing items for DNA. There is substantial doubt that Skinner is wrongfully convicted in this case.
The state announced in 2012 that a crucial piece of evidence is lost. There are still unanalyzed crime scene objects in this case as well as DNA from an unknown contributor found on a knife at the crime scene.
On February 3-4, 2014 an evidentiary hearing took place in Pampa, Texas. The prosecution argued that the tests only confirmed Skinner’s guilt. The defense said the results raised enough questions about the real identity of the perpetrator. A jury would not have condemned him to death.
In July 2014, Judge Steven Emmert ruled that it was reasonably probable that Skinner would have been convicted of triple murder even if the DNA evidence had been available at his 1995 trial.
In 2016, we learned that a new DNA interpretation might shed a clearer light on this case. However, there is nothing in the public domain about test results.