If they knew then what we know now…read about the thoughts and feelings of the original Skinner jury!
“In light of new developments that have surfaced in the 15 years since Skinner’s trial, several of the original jurors are no longer sure of his guilt. Five say they might have had reasonable doubt at the time of the trial if they had known then what they know now. Seven are calling for DNA testing of all the evidence so they can be certain they convicted the right man. An eighth juror we contacted declined to comment.
Many of the jurors interviewed were taken aback by the amount of untested evidence, stunned that even the blood on two of the murder weapons had not been analyzed. The seven jurors agreed that all the evidence should undergo DNA analysis. “That’s the only way you can come to the right conclusion of if he’s innocent or guilty,” said Danny Stewart, the jury’s foreman. “I would hate personally to put a man to death if he’s innocent.”
Lynn Switzer, the current District Attorney of Gray County who is being sued by Skinner in the case before the Supreme Court, has refused to test all the remaining evidence. “If defendants are allowed to ‘game the system’ then we will never be able to rely on the finality of the judgments entered in their cases,” Switzer said in a statement following the Court’s decision to take Skinner’s case. “Mr. Skinner has been given plenty of opportunity to show that additional testing could prove his innocence, but he could not show that.”
“All of it should have been tested,” juror Stewart said. “All the DNA evidence should be tested. Period.”
Juror Jerry Williams perched on a stool in his garage. He wonders now if DNA results could put the case to rest. “What’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong,” Williams said. “It should have been tested before…Somebody’s life is at stake.” Read much more here!