Hank Skinner
Encyclopedia
Henry Watkins "Hank" Skinner (born April 4, 1962) was convicted of bludgeoning to death his live-in girlfriend, Twila Busby, and stabbing to death her two adult sons, Randy Busby and Elwin Caler. The murders occurred on December 31, 1993 at 801 East Campbell Avenue in Pampa, Texas
. Skinner was convicted of the murders on March 18, 1995, and sentenced to death
.
Fifteen years after his conviction, the case earned a large notoriety when, on March 24, 2010, and only thirty five minutes before his scheduled execution (second execution date), the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of execution to consider the question of whether Skinner could request testing of DNA his attorney chose not to have tested at his original trial in 1994. A third execution date for November 9, 2011, was also ultimately stayed by the Texas Court of Criminal appeal on November 7, 2011.
The Supreme Court issued on March 6, 2011, an opinion holding that Skinner may sue under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (See Civil Rights Act of 1871
) claiming that Texas' rules for seeking post-conviction DNA testing upon which the judges rely are too narrow or restrictive. The ruling, however, did not specifically grant Skinner the DNA testing he had been seeking.
Although Skinner maintains he is innocent, his Supreme Court strategy at this time did not raise actual innocence claims—instead focusing on the question of post-conviction DNA testing.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
wrote that a Section 1983 suit was available in cases where the relief sought by the inmate would
Skinner echoed this strategy to a CNN
reporter: "all the District Attorney's gotta do is turn over the evidence, test it and let the chips fall where they may. If I'm innocent, I go home, if I'm guilty I die..."
In March, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a civil suit against Switzer, over post-conviction DNA testing, could proceed--but did not rule on whether Skinner should be given access to the actual evidence.
A new Texan law, SB 122, took effect on September 1, 2011. SB 122 intends to ensure that procedural barriers do not prevent prisoners from testing biological evidence that was not previously tested or could be subjected to newer testing. On Sept 6, 2011, Skinner's attorneys filed a motion in state district court in Gray County, Texas, to compel DNA testing of key pieces of evidence that have never been tested. However on November 2, 2011, Judge Steven R. Emmert of the district court of Gray county
denied the third motion of DNA testing introduced by the defense, without explaining his decision.
In October 2011, the coexistence of the execution date and the absence of favorable answer on the request for testing the evidence keep generating growing interest about Skinner´s case.
The campaign for the testing of the evidence is now supported by more and more Texan media, such as the Texas Tribune which titled on October 28, "Perry and Abbot urged to stay execution". A petition with the same object on change.org
has collected more than 100,000 signatures.
On November 7, 2011, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed Skinner's execution so that a determination could be made about whether Texas law allowed for DNA evidence from the crime scene to be tested.
Professor David Protess has published on November 8, 2011, a detailed description of the district Attorneys who have successively kept refusing the testing of the DNA, turning it progressively into a showcase for DNA testing.
After the murders, Skinner claims he was roused off the couch by one of the mortally wounded victims—Elwin "Scooter" Caler. Caler died on the porch of a neighbor of Twila Busby. Skinner made his way to the home of Andrea Joyce Reed, 4 blocks away, and she let him in.
Reed initially testified that Skinner threatened her if she called the police. Later, however, Reed recanted that claim and said Skinner merely "told" her not to call the police—never actually threatening her.
Skinner was arrested several hours later, being found in the darkened front bedroom of Reed's home. When he was arrested, Skinner was wearing clothes bearing blood spatters that were DNA-matched to two of the victims.
Skinner's lawyer's brief also notes: "Mr. Skinner’s suit for access to DNA evidence does not challenge the validity of his underlying conviction or sentence."
Skinner's petition was heard by the Supreme Court on October 13, 2010 at 10:00. The oral argument was widely covered by, among others media, the Washington Post.
On March 7, 2011, the decision of the Supreme Court agreed that the civil rights action was appropriate in this case.
.
On May 24, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would review Skinner's case. The justices agreed to grant full review of the issue his lawyers raised: whether prisoners can use a federal civil-rights law to request DNA testing after their convictions.
At issue is whether post-conviction DNA testing is a civil right even though the DNA, in this case, was available at trial but Harold Comer, the appointed attorney of Skinner at trial, chose not to have it tested at the time because he believed it could be damaging to the case. Today, Mr. Comer says that even though he still defends his trial strategy, he would now request the testing. According to Professor David Protess, "Comer failed to request DNA testing, or present compelling evidence about the alternative suspect. And, at the sentencing hearing, he failed to object to using Skinner's prior convictions -- which he had prosecuted -- to justify the death penalty.".
Gray County District Attorney Lynn Switzer responded to the Supreme Court's decision to hear Skinner's case in a letter to an Amarillo News Station. Switzer accused Skinner of "gaming the system
" and said that, on two previous appeals, Skinner had failed to show how additional testing could exonerate him. The position of Mrs. Switzer is based on the decisions of The Texas Circuit Court of Appeals (CCA) which writes" The Appellant's request to compare fingerprint evidence would not provide a reasonable probability of the Appellant's innocence, but instead would only demonstrate the presence of a third party.". So the position of the Texas authorities is that demonstrating the existence of a third party, being not an actual proof of innocence, is not a point to investigate.
who had prosecuted Skinner in earlier cases, before losing his position and pleading guilty to criminal charges over the mishandling of cash seized in drug
cases. The Washington Post cited Mr. Comer's appointment as a possible case of cronyism
, where Mr. Comer was appointed to a highly-paid case by a friend in order to help him raise the funds needed to pay off his overdue federal income taxes
:
Mrs. Reed claimed that she had given false testimony at trial after having been threatened to be charged as an accomplice to capital murder, to have children taken away and to have her daughter called to testify at trial. Among the new claims, Mrs. Reed said that Skinner told her not to call anybody (police) but did not threaten to kill her (as Reed testified in court). Mrs. Reed also claimed that she believed Skinner's sentence "I have kicked Twila. She's dead" to be "a drunken fantasy like the other violent stories that he told me to explain how he was injured."
Skinner has never explained why he didn't call the police and why he instructed Mrs. Reed not to call the police that evening. The only explanation Skinner has given for this is: "The phone cord was jerked out of the wall. Nobody could call from our house. Scooter tried."
sustained six months before the murders, he believed Mr. Skinner’s right hand's grasping
strength was half normal at the time of the murders. Tarpley testified he didn't believe Skinner would have had the strength needed to choke Ms. Busby with enough force to break her larynx and
hyoid bone."
No physician has testified or affirmed Tarpley's opinion either at trial or in the evidentiary hearings on appeal.
Dr. Harold Kalant, professor emeritus of Toxicology and Pharmacology at the University of Toronto, reviewed several of Skinner's trial documents. Based on his review, Dr. Kalant wrote a "Declaration" dated February 16, 2010, which he distributed to several anti-death penalty organizations. Dr. Kalant wrote that he believed Dr. Lowry underestimated Skinner's blood alcohol content
and the level of codeine ingested by Skinner. Dr. Kalant wrote: "I wouldn't be surprised if the heavy drinker would be able to move about somewhat, but he would be very confused and badly impaired, and would have difficulty standing or walking in a coordinated manner". Dr. Kalant based his calculations on the assumption that Skinner consumed the alcohol and codeine at 9:30 the evening of the murders.
"The Skeptical Juror" reported on an interview with Howard Mitchell (the man who drove Twila Busby to the New Year's Eve Party) by an investigator with the DA's office. According to Mitchell, Donnell had a history of violent behavior, and attempted rape. Cliff Carpenter, an investigator for Skinner's appellate team, claimed to have spoken with Donnell's widow, Willie Mae Gardner and neighbor Deborah Ellis who called Gardner "Grandmother" though they were not related. According to Carpenter, Gardner told him Donnell came home very late the night of the murders, and also that he thoroughly washed the interior of the truck, cleaned the truck's carpets and repainted the truck within a week of the murders.
During cross-examination, at an evidentiary hearing in 2005, Deborah Ellis testified that she did not see any blood in the truck and that Donnell was just cleaning the truck.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety
, Donnell had no prior criminal history. According to the affidavit of Cliff Carpenter, Donnell had a criminal history in Oklahoma, for theft, embezzlement and burglary in the 1950s, and served three years in prison in 1989 for auto theft. According to the State of Oklahoma, Robert E. Donnell (white/male, born May 5, 1930, 5'0" and 185 lbs.) was incarcerated for 7 years (which may have included parole) for one conviction of auto theft beginning on November 29, 1988. No other criminal history is recorded in Oklahoma—nor is any assaultive offense attributed to Donnell.
There is also an affidavit by Mr. Ronald Campbell, an acquaintance of Twila Busby, who said that on the night of the murders he tried to place a collect call to Busby from the Gray County Jail, where he was an inmate, around 11:00 PM (2300 hrs). Campbell claimed that the oldest son answered but couldn't summon Twila Busby to the phone. Campbell claimed the boy sounded "upset and scared." Campbell also claimed he could hear the noise of "one hell of a fight," in the background, and the deep voice of an unknown male individual who wasn't Skinner. Phone records didn't corroborate Campbell's statements—so his testimony was not used at trial.
In an April, 2010 letter responding to what Skinner called "false and undocumented allegations" circulating on the web, Skinner put forth a new theory that he was colorblind at the time and drank from the wrong cup.
Skinner himself explains: "A few years ago I learned that truth from a toxicologist who testified in another guy’s case, here. He says that once you reach a certain level of intoxication you go colorblind. Twila was always putting pills in her drink and sipping that one drink all evening. I later learned her girlfriend (G.S.) had given her 13 Fiorinal #4 codeine that she’d put in her drink. Twila and I had identical glasses but hers was fuschia pink, mine was baby medium blue. I vaguely remember seeing the dregs of pills in the bottom of my cup and getting sick, passing out. I couldn’t figure out how it got into my cup. So I thought someone must have poisoned me. I think now I was just too messed up and colorblind to tell our cups apart anymore, I accidentally got Twila’s cup and drank from it, thinking it was my cup."
At the time of the trial, DNA analysis had been performed only on the clothes that Skinner was wearing at the time of his arrest, and the results were incriminating because DNA of two of the victims were found on the clothes.
All DNA that Skinner's defense team seeks to have analyzed, now, was available for testing at Skinner's original trial. Skinner's defense attorney at the time, Harold Comer, chose not to have it analyzed believing it could incriminate his client further. Skinner contends that he never agreed with the decision by Comer.
The claim that Twila Busby had been raped was not raised at Skinner's trial. Further, medical examiner Dr. Elizabeth Peacock testified at trial that Twila Busby was not raped.
The right for Skinner to bring suit under Civil Rights laws claiming that Texas law regarding post-conviction DNA testing was too restrictive was affirmed by the Supreme Court in March, 2011.
Skinner has maintained that the decision to not test certain pieces of DNA evidence was not his. Skinner claims his trial counsel, Harold Comer, made the decision believing the results would further incriminate Skinner.
Texas Senator Rodney Ellis, who authored the bill, said: "Under current law, innocence is often being left to chance [...] Strengthening Texas' post-conviction DNA law is an essential measure to improve justice in Texas."
The bill was signed into law on June 17, 2011, effective September 11, 2011.
Rob Owen has represented Mr. Skinner since 2004, after his previous court-appointed attorney, Steven Losch, died.
Skinner's new defense team obtained an evidentiary hearing in November 2005, the full transcript of which is available, along with numerous other legal documents, on the website set up to defend his case.
Skinner's consecutive appeal
, a federal habeas corpus
petition
centering on inadequate performance by his trial attorney on issues involving the investigation of an alternative suspect and a blood spatter analysis, was denied by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
on July 14, 2009. On August 10, 2009, Skinner's Defense team introduced a new petition for a rehearing en banc
with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The petition was rejected on August 28, 2009.
Attorney General Greg Abbott
issued a media advisory relating to Skinner's upcoming execution and summarizing details of the case that sent Skinner to death row.
On March 17, 2010, Texas
Attorney General Greg Abbott
issued a media advisory relating to Skinner's upcoming execution and summarizing details of the case that sent Skinner to death row.
Governor
Rick Perry
did not issue a decision as the US Supreme Court issued an unlimited stay of execution.
On March 17, 2010, Texas
Attorney General Greg Abbott
issued a media advisory relating to Skinner's upcoming execution and summarizing details of the case that sent Skinner to death row.
In spite of pending litigation, and in spite of a new Texas legislation aiming at completing the DNA analysis ins Skinner's case, a new execution date has been set for Nov. 11, 2011.
Skinner resides on death row in the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Polk County, Texas.
During the raids, according to a statement issued by TDCJ's spokesperson Michelle Lyons, two SIM cards were found hidden in Skinner's bible. Skinner denied having a cell phone, but an x-ray revealed an illegal cell phone hidden in his rectum.
aired a two-part program entitled "American Justice - Fatal Flaws", the second part of which deals with wrongful convictions and evokes Hank's case and that of Curtis McCarty, who was exonerated from Oklahoma
death row
after 22 years.
As of February 2010, the Hank Skinner case is included in the Medill Innocence project of Professor David Protess.
On February 24, Amarillo News Channel 10 posted its full, unedited exclusive 30-minute interview with Hank Skinner.
In March, 2010, The Skeptical Juror site carried a 10-part series reprising the facts of the Hank Skinner case.
On March 24, the evening Skinner's execution was stayed, Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner and Curtis McCarty, a former inmate on Oklahoma's death row who was exonerated by post-trial DNA analysis, were interviewed on Larry King Live
. Both pleaded against the denial of analysis of the full available evidence and expressed their belief that Skinner is innocent.
On April 4, Twila Busby's daughter Lisa and Busby's uncle Dave Brito "broke years of silence" and gave an interview to News Channel 10 in Amarillo. Lisa was the only one in her family to survive the murders and chose "to stay at her aunt and uncles' place -- keeping away from home because she was scared her mom's boyfriend [Hank Skinner] might turn violent after drinking that night at a New Year's Eve party." Lisa Busby also appeared to advocate for Skinner's execution. "We're suffering. We have no closure. We have no peace because he's still alive," she said. Lisa finished her interview by agreeing that the testing needed to be done, saying "I mean test the DNA and get it over with [...] That way we have something of peace and closure."
On April 22, 2010, Skinner wrote Channel 10 a letter to "clarify" statements he made in an interview that was aired nationally.
On May 3 Channel 10 produced a followup piece containing Skinner's letter to them regarding the statement he made. The statement in question related to the "violent stabbing and death of the beating victims" in the February interview. On camera, Skinner said referring to the murders: "if it had to happen and it had to go that way I wished I had 'uv done it because I wouldn't have done 'em like that."
On May 5, Skinner took issue with "false and undocumented allegations" circulating on the web.
On May 25, 2010, Time Magazine
published an article about the case: "In death penalty case, innocence has to matter".
On June 10, 2010, "Politics Daily" published a report of recent interviews of former jurors at Skinner's trial, which states "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"
Pampa, Texas
Pampa is a city in Gray County, Texas, United States. The population was 17,887 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Gray County.Pampa is the principal city of the Pampa Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Gray and Roberts counties....
. Skinner was convicted of the murders on March 18, 1995, and sentenced to death
Death Sentence
Death Sentence is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov.-Plot summary:...
.
Fifteen years after his conviction, the case earned a large notoriety when, on March 24, 2010, and only thirty five minutes before his scheduled execution (second execution date), the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of execution to consider the question of whether Skinner could request testing of DNA his attorney chose not to have tested at his original trial in 1994. A third execution date for November 9, 2011, was also ultimately stayed by the Texas Court of Criminal appeal on November 7, 2011.
The Supreme Court issued on March 6, 2011, an opinion holding that Skinner may sue under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (See Civil Rights Act of 1871
Civil Rights Act of 1871
The Civil Rights Act of 1871, , enacted April 20, 1871, is a federal law in force in the United States. The Act was originally enacted a few years after the American Civil War, along with the 1870 Force Act. One of the chief reasons for its passage was to protect southern blacks from the Ku Klux...
) claiming that Texas' rules for seeking post-conviction DNA testing upon which the judges rely are too narrow or restrictive. The ruling, however, did not specifically grant Skinner the DNA testing he had been seeking.
Although Skinner maintains he is innocent, his Supreme Court strategy at this time did not raise actual innocence claims—instead focusing on the question of post-conviction DNA testing.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ruth Joan Bader Ginsburg is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ginsburg was appointed by President Bill Clinton and took the oath of office on August 10, 1993. She is the second female justice and the first Jewish female justice.She is generally viewed as belonging to...
wrote that a Section 1983 suit was available in cases where the relief sought by the inmate would
- "not necessarily imply the invalidity of his conviction or sentence.” Since there was no telling whether the results of the tests Mr. Skinner sought would establish his guilt, clear him or be inconclusive, the suit was proper.".
Skinner echoed this strategy to a CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
reporter: "all the District Attorney's gotta do is turn over the evidence, test it and let the chips fall where they may. If I'm innocent, I go home, if I'm guilty I die..."
Third execution date and campaign for DNA testing
Despite his pending litigation, Skinner has been given a new execution date of November 9, 2011. Gray County District Attorney Lynn Switzer (the respondent in Skinner's lawsuit) wrote, in a brief to the court filed on June 2, 2011, that "Texas satisfied all the requirements of constitutional due process when it offered Skinner the opportunity to test the DNA evidence at trial."In March, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a civil suit against Switzer, over post-conviction DNA testing, could proceed--but did not rule on whether Skinner should be given access to the actual evidence.
A new Texan law, SB 122, took effect on September 1, 2011. SB 122 intends to ensure that procedural barriers do not prevent prisoners from testing biological evidence that was not previously tested or could be subjected to newer testing. On Sept 6, 2011, Skinner's attorneys filed a motion in state district court in Gray County, Texas, to compel DNA testing of key pieces of evidence that have never been tested. However on November 2, 2011, Judge Steven R. Emmert of the district court of Gray county
Gray County
Gray County is the name of two counties in the United States:*Gray County, Kansas*Gray County, Texas...
denied the third motion of DNA testing introduced by the defense, without explaining his decision.
In October 2011, the coexistence of the execution date and the absence of favorable answer on the request for testing the evidence keep generating growing interest about Skinner´s case.
The campaign for the testing of the evidence is now supported by more and more Texan media, such as the Texas Tribune which titled on October 28, "Perry and Abbot urged to stay execution". A petition with the same object on change.org
Change.org
Change.org is an online platform for social change launched on February 7, 2007 by current CEO Ben Rattray and Mark Dimas, and certified as a B Corporation in January, 2011. Its stated mission is to "empower anyone, anywhere to start, join, and win campaigns for social change."...
has collected more than 100,000 signatures.
On November 7, 2011, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed Skinner's execution so that a determination could be made about whether Texas law allowed for DNA evidence from the crime scene to be tested.
Professor David Protess has published on November 8, 2011, a detailed description of the district Attorneys who have successively kept refusing the testing of the DNA, turning it progressively into a showcase for DNA testing.
Circumstances Surrounding The Murders
Skinner lived with the victims and admitted that he was in the home when the murders took place, but claims he was in a comatose condition from a near lethal dose of codeine and alcohol. In a letter published in April 2010, Skinner put forth a new claim that he was colorblind and accidentally ingested the near-lethal mix because he had confused the victim's "fuchsia pink" glass (which contained codeine) with his own "baby blue" glass. Twila Busby was murdered in the living room just feet from the couch where Skinner claims he was lying passed out on a sofa.After the murders, Skinner claims he was roused off the couch by one of the mortally wounded victims—Elwin "Scooter" Caler. Caler died on the porch of a neighbor of Twila Busby. Skinner made his way to the home of Andrea Joyce Reed, 4 blocks away, and she let him in.
Reed initially testified that Skinner threatened her if she called the police. Later, however, Reed recanted that claim and said Skinner merely "told" her not to call the police—never actually threatening her.
Skinner was arrested several hours later, being found in the darkened front bedroom of Reed's home. When he was arrested, Skinner was wearing clothes bearing blood spatters that were DNA-matched to two of the victims.
March 2011 Ruling
On July 22, 2010, Skinner's lawyer presented his brief to the U.S. Supreme Court. In it, he asks one question: "may a convicted prisoner seeking access to biological evidence for DNA testing assert that claim in a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, or is such a claim cognizable only in a petition for writ of habeas corpus?"Skinner's lawyer's brief also notes: "Mr. Skinner’s suit for access to DNA evidence does not challenge the validity of his underlying conviction or sentence."
Skinner's petition was heard by the Supreme Court on October 13, 2010 at 10:00. The oral argument was widely covered by, among others media, the Washington Post.
On March 7, 2011, the decision of the Supreme Court agreed that the civil rights action was appropriate in this case.
Issues and Claims Surrounding The Case
Background
On March 24, 2010, Thirty five minutes before the scheduled execution, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Skinner a stay of execution to allow time to consider his petition for writ of certiorariCertiorari
Certiorari is a type of writ seeking judicial review, recognized in U.S., Roman, English, Philippine, and other law. Certiorari is the present passive infinitive of the Latin certiorare...
.
On May 24, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would review Skinner's case. The justices agreed to grant full review of the issue his lawyers raised: whether prisoners can use a federal civil-rights law to request DNA testing after their convictions.
At issue is whether post-conviction DNA testing is a civil right even though the DNA, in this case, was available at trial but Harold Comer, the appointed attorney of Skinner at trial, chose not to have it tested at the time because he believed it could be damaging to the case. Today, Mr. Comer says that even though he still defends his trial strategy, he would now request the testing. According to Professor David Protess, "Comer failed to request DNA testing, or present compelling evidence about the alternative suspect. And, at the sentencing hearing, he failed to object to using Skinner's prior convictions -- which he had prosecuted -- to justify the death penalty.".
Gray County District Attorney Lynn Switzer responded to the Supreme Court's decision to hear Skinner's case in a letter to an Amarillo News Station. Switzer accused Skinner of "gaming the system
Gaming the system
Gaming the system can be defined as "[using] the rules and procedures meant to protect a system in order, instead, to manipulate the system for [a] desired outcome".According to James Rieley, structures in organizations Gaming the system (or bending the rules, playing the system, abusing the...
" and said that, on two previous appeals, Skinner had failed to show how additional testing could exonerate him. The position of Mrs. Switzer is based on the decisions of The Texas Circuit Court of Appeals (CCA) which writes" The Appellant's request to compare fingerprint evidence would not provide a reasonable probability of the Appellant's innocence, but instead would only demonstrate the presence of a third party.". So the position of the Texas authorities is that demonstrating the existence of a third party, being not an actual proof of innocence, is not a point to investigate.
Claims against trial counsel
Skinner's appointed defense attorney in the trial, Harold Lee Comer was a former district attorneyDistrict attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
who had prosecuted Skinner in earlier cases, before losing his position and pleading guilty to criminal charges over the mishandling of cash seized in drug
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
cases. The Washington Post cited Mr. Comer's appointment as a possible case of cronyism
Cronyism
Cronyism is partiality to long-standing friends, especially by appointing them to positions of authority, regardless of their qualifications. Hence, cronyism is contrary in practice and principle to meritocracy....
, where Mr. Comer was appointed to a highly-paid case by a friend in order to help him raise the funds needed to pay off his overdue federal income taxes
Taxation in the United States
The United States is a federal republic with autonomous state and local governments. Taxes are imposed in the United States at each of these levels. These include taxes on income, property, sales, imports, payroll, estates and gifts, as well as various fees.Taxes are imposed on net income of...
:
- "Comer had twice personally prosecuted Skinner for other crimes, which created a potential conflict for him in defending Skinner. State law required the judge to hold a hearing on the question, then give Skinner the option of a new lawyer if it became clear in the hearing that Comer had a conflict. But according to the trial record, Sims, who was aware of Comer's history with Skinner, did not hold such a hearing. Sims later approved $86,000 in legal fees for Comer's work in the case, one of the biggest sums ever paid to a court-appointed attorney in Texas. At the time, Comer was in debt to the Internal Revenue Service for about the same amount, according to court documents."
Witness recants testimony
Portions of the trial relied on the testimony of Andrea Joyce Reed who owned the house where Skinner was found by police several hours after the murders. Andrea Reed recanted several specific elements of her testimony after the trial. Reed's daughter's testimony, however, contradicted portions of the new claims and ultimately a magistrate found Reed's recantation not to be credible.Mrs. Reed claimed that she had given false testimony at trial after having been threatened to be charged as an accomplice to capital murder, to have children taken away and to have her daughter called to testify at trial. Among the new claims, Mrs. Reed said that Skinner told her not to call anybody (police) but did not threaten to kill her (as Reed testified in court). Mrs. Reed also claimed that she believed Skinner's sentence "I have kicked Twila. She's dead" to be "a drunken fantasy like the other violent stories that he told me to explain how he was injured."
Skinner has never explained why he didn't call the police and why he instructed Mrs. Reed not to call the police that evening. The only explanation Skinner has given for this is: "The phone cord was jerked out of the wall. Nobody could call from our house. Scooter tried."
Occupational therapist testimony
"Occupational therapist Joe Tarpley testified at trial that, as result of an injurysustained six months before the murders, he believed Mr. Skinner’s right hand's grasping
strength was half normal at the time of the murders. Tarpley testified he didn't believe Skinner would have had the strength needed to choke Ms. Busby with enough force to break her larynx and
hyoid bone."
No physician has testified or affirmed Tarpley's opinion either at trial or in the evidentiary hearings on appeal.
Toxicology testimony
At trial, the defense's toxicology expert, Dr. Lowry, had stated that based on the alcohol and codeine in his blood, Hank Skinner was too intoxicated to be able to physically commit the murders, but his testimony was weakened by the original statements of Andrea Joyce Reed, which led the jury to accept the prosecution's theory that Skinner had developed a resistance to alcohol and codeine which would have allowed him to function even under heavy doses. Dr. Lowry did not testify to when, exactly, Skinner ingested the codeine. The timing of the codeine ingestion has been called into question, but at trial, prosecution witness Howard Mitchell claimed that 90 minutes before the crime, Skinner was lying on the living room couch completely unresponsive.Dr. Harold Kalant, professor emeritus of Toxicology and Pharmacology at the University of Toronto, reviewed several of Skinner's trial documents. Based on his review, Dr. Kalant wrote a "Declaration" dated February 16, 2010, which he distributed to several anti-death penalty organizations. Dr. Kalant wrote that he believed Dr. Lowry underestimated Skinner's blood alcohol content
Blood alcohol content
Blood alcohol content , also called blood alcohol concentration, blood ethanol concentration, or blood alcohol level is most commonly used as a metric of alcohol intoxication for legal or medical purposes....
and the level of codeine ingested by Skinner. Dr. Kalant wrote: "I wouldn't be surprised if the heavy drinker would be able to move about somewhat, but he would be very confused and badly impaired, and would have difficulty standing or walking in a coordinated manner". Dr. Kalant based his calculations on the assumption that Skinner consumed the alcohol and codeine at 9:30 the evening of the murders.
Theory about alternative suspect and rape
Shortly before the murders Twila Busby, it is claimed, had been threatened by an uncle (killed in an automobile accident on January 5, 1997), Robert Donnell. Though Skinner and his legal team have raised questions, Donnell was never considered to be a suspect by the D.A. or the police."The Skeptical Juror" reported on an interview with Howard Mitchell (the man who drove Twila Busby to the New Year's Eve Party) by an investigator with the DA's office. According to Mitchell, Donnell had a history of violent behavior, and attempted rape. Cliff Carpenter, an investigator for Skinner's appellate team, claimed to have spoken with Donnell's widow, Willie Mae Gardner and neighbor Deborah Ellis who called Gardner "Grandmother" though they were not related. According to Carpenter, Gardner told him Donnell came home very late the night of the murders, and also that he thoroughly washed the interior of the truck, cleaned the truck's carpets and repainted the truck within a week of the murders.
During cross-examination, at an evidentiary hearing in 2005, Deborah Ellis testified that she did not see any blood in the truck and that Donnell was just cleaning the truck.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety
Texas Department of Public Safety
The Texas Department of Public Safety is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The DPS is responsible for statewide law enforcement and vehicle regulation. The Public Safety Commission oversees the DPS. Its five members are appointed by the Governor of Texas and confirmed by the...
, Donnell had no prior criminal history. According to the affidavit of Cliff Carpenter, Donnell had a criminal history in Oklahoma, for theft, embezzlement and burglary in the 1950s, and served three years in prison in 1989 for auto theft. According to the State of Oklahoma, Robert E. Donnell (white/male, born May 5, 1930, 5'0" and 185 lbs.) was incarcerated for 7 years (which may have included parole) for one conviction of auto theft beginning on November 29, 1988. No other criminal history is recorded in Oklahoma—nor is any assaultive offense attributed to Donnell.
There is also an affidavit by Mr. Ronald Campbell, an acquaintance of Twila Busby, who said that on the night of the murders he tried to place a collect call to Busby from the Gray County Jail, where he was an inmate, around 11:00 PM (2300 hrs). Campbell claimed that the oldest son answered but couldn't summon Twila Busby to the phone. Campbell claimed the boy sounded "upset and scared." Campbell also claimed he could hear the noise of "one hell of a fight," in the background, and the deep voice of an unknown male individual who wasn't Skinner. Phone records didn't corroborate Campbell's statements—so his testimony was not used at trial.
Claims of color-blindness and accidental codeine ingestion
Exactly how Skinner ingested the codeine, he said made him comatose, has never been clearly determined. Skinner's website has always claimed (and still does) "it is believed that he was either accidentally or intentionally poisoned by the addition of the [codeine] pills to his drinks."In an April, 2010 letter responding to what Skinner called "false and undocumented allegations" circulating on the web, Skinner put forth a new theory that he was colorblind at the time and drank from the wrong cup.
Skinner himself explains: "A few years ago I learned that truth from a toxicologist who testified in another guy’s case, here. He says that once you reach a certain level of intoxication you go colorblind. Twila was always putting pills in her drink and sipping that one drink all evening. I later learned her girlfriend (G.S.) had given her 13 Fiorinal #4 codeine that she’d put in her drink. Twila and I had identical glasses but hers was fuschia pink, mine was baby medium blue. I vaguely remember seeing the dregs of pills in the bottom of my cup and getting sick, passing out. I couldn’t figure out how it got into my cup. So I thought someone must have poisoned me. I think now I was just too messed up and colorblind to tell our cups apart anymore, I accidentally got Twila’s cup and drank from it, thinking it was my cup."
Unanalyzed crime scene objects
Skinner's and his appellate team have repeatedly tried to obtain a DNA analysis on seven other items found at the crime scene; including fingernail clippings, a knife found on the porch of Busby's house and a second knife found in a plastic bag in the house, a towel with the second knife, a jacket next to Busby's body and any hairs found in her hands that were not destroyed in previous testing, and vaginal swabs taken from Twila Busby at the time of her autopsy.At the time of the trial, DNA analysis had been performed only on the clothes that Skinner was wearing at the time of his arrest, and the results were incriminating because DNA of two of the victims were found on the clothes.
All DNA that Skinner's defense team seeks to have analyzed, now, was available for testing at Skinner's original trial. Skinner's defense attorney at the time, Harold Comer, chose not to have it analyzed believing it could incriminate his client further. Skinner contends that he never agreed with the decision by Comer.
Analysis of hair clutched in victim's hand
During the post-conviction appeals, DNA analysis of only the hairs clutched in Twila's hand were tested and the results may have been either exculpatory (one of the head hairs and an unmatched fingerprint found on a plastic bag containing a bloodied knife excluded Skinner), or inconclusive, and no further analysis was made. All the requests for DNA testing of the other items have been denied on the grounds that Skinner's trial attorney did not seek DNA analysis. Lynn Switzer, the Gray County District Attorney, claims that additional testing would not prove Hank Skinner's innocence.The claim that Twila Busby had been raped was not raised at Skinner's trial. Further, medical examiner Dr. Elizabeth Peacock testified at trial that Twila Busby was not raped.
Skinner vs. Switzer
On November 27, 2009, the defense team filed a complaint in federal court against the Gray County DA, Lynn Switzer, for refusing to release the evidence to the defense for private DNA testing, which she could conceivably do without a court order. On January 15, the magistrate in charge of the complaint recommended that it be dismissed and on January 20, the Federal district Judge affirmed the dismissal. This decision is being appealed at the Federal Court of Appeals. In January 2010, Hank Skinner wrote to Lynn Switzer a letter where he states that his former prosecutor John Mann lied about the results of the hair analysis, and concludes his letter "All what I am asking you, Madam, is to do the right thing and test the evidence.The right for Skinner to bring suit under Civil Rights laws claiming that Texas law regarding post-conviction DNA testing was too restrictive was affirmed by the Supreme Court in March, 2011.
Texas Criminal Justice Reform Law
On May 26, 2011, the Senate of Texas voted unanimously for the Senate Bill 122, a Criminal Justice Reform Bill, expanding access to post-conviction DNA testing. This bill, would allow post-conviction testing "whenever there is biological evidence that has not previously been tested, or when the evidence can be subjected to newer techniques that might be more revealing than the results of an older test." The passing of this law would prevent Texas courts from blocking access to DNA testing in cases where DNA was not tested through "no fault of the defendant."Skinner has maintained that the decision to not test certain pieces of DNA evidence was not his. Skinner claims his trial counsel, Harold Comer, made the decision believing the results would further incriminate Skinner.
Texas Senator Rodney Ellis, who authored the bill, said: "Under current law, innocence is often being left to chance [...] Strengthening Texas' post-conviction DNA law is an essential measure to improve justice in Texas."
The bill was signed into law on June 17, 2011, effective September 11, 2011.
Post-Conviction history
Skinner maintains he is innocent, and has repeatedly appealed his conviction both at state and federal levels.Marriage
Skinner married Sandrine Ageorges while on Texas death row in 2008. Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner, a French national, has been an anti-death penalty activist for more than 30 years—well before she met Skinner. She has corresponded with numerous death row inmates and has participated in numerous protests against the death penalty. Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner was banned from visiting or corresponding with Mr. Skinner because of violations of prison policies—a charge both claim was fabricated but, because the Texas Department of Criminal Justice refuses to release records, the claim cannot be supported or contradicted. Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner has received the official support of the French Government in her persistent efforts to save her husband from execution and prove his innocence. France generally opposes the death penalty in all cases.Defense Team
For the post-conviction appeals, Rob Owen, co-director of the University of Texas at Austin School of Law's Capital Punishment Clinic was appointed to represent Mr. Skinner.Rob Owen has represented Mr. Skinner since 2004, after his previous court-appointed attorney, Steven Losch, died.
Skinner's new defense team obtained an evidentiary hearing in November 2005, the full transcript of which is available, along with numerous other legal documents, on the website set up to defend his case.
Partial appeal accepted, then rejected
On May 14, 2008, a limited certificate of appealability was granted.Skinner's consecutive appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
, a federal habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
centering on inadequate performance by his trial attorney on issues involving the investigation of an alternative suspect and a blood spatter analysis, was denied by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Louisiana* Middle District of Louisiana...
on July 14, 2009. On August 10, 2009, Skinner's Defense team introduced a new petition for a rehearing en banc
En banc
En banc, in banc, in banco or in bank is a French term used to refer to the hearing of a legal case where all judges of a court will hear the case , rather than a panel of them. It is often used for unusually complex cases or cases considered to be of greater importance...
with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The petition was rejected on August 28, 2009.
Execution orders
On October 26, 2009, Judge Steven Emmert signed the order setting an execution date for Hank Skinner on February 24, 2010 (first execution date). The date was then changed to March 24, due to procedural errors which rendered the original mandate invalid. The Texas Board of pardons and paroles voted unanimously against an additional stay and against a commutation of Skinner's sentence. On March 17, 2010, TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
Attorney General Greg Abbott
Greg Abbott
Gregory Wayne "Greg" Abbott is the Texas Attorney General, and is the second Republican since Reconstruction to serve in that role. Abbott was sworn in on December 2, 2002, following John Cornyn's election to the U.S. Senate...
issued a media advisory relating to Skinner's upcoming execution and summarizing details of the case that sent Skinner to death row.
On March 17, 2010, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
Attorney General Greg Abbott
Greg Abbott
Gregory Wayne "Greg" Abbott is the Texas Attorney General, and is the second Republican since Reconstruction to serve in that role. Abbott was sworn in on December 2, 2002, following John Cornyn's election to the U.S. Senate...
issued a media advisory relating to Skinner's upcoming execution and summarizing details of the case that sent Skinner to death row.
Governor
Governor (United States)
In the United States, the title governor refers to the chief executive of each state or insular territory, not directly subordinate to the federal authorities, but the political and ceremonial head of the state.-Role and powers:...
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
James Richard "Rick" Perry is the 47th and current Governor of Texas. A Republican, Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full...
did not issue a decision as the US Supreme Court issued an unlimited stay of execution.
On March 17, 2010, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
Attorney General Greg Abbott
Greg Abbott
Gregory Wayne "Greg" Abbott is the Texas Attorney General, and is the second Republican since Reconstruction to serve in that role. Abbott was sworn in on December 2, 2002, following John Cornyn's election to the U.S. Senate...
issued a media advisory relating to Skinner's upcoming execution and summarizing details of the case that sent Skinner to death row.
In spite of pending litigation, and in spite of a new Texas legislation aiming at completing the DNA analysis ins Skinner's case, a new execution date has been set for Nov. 11, 2011.
Skinner resides on death row in the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Polk County, Texas.
Hank Skinner's writings
Mr. Skinner is author of, and self-publishes a series of articles, "Hell Hole News" which covers a broad range of topics related to his case and the conditions on Texas' death row.Prison issues: Contraband Cell Phone and SIM
After a fellow death row inmate, Richard Tabler, used a smuggled cell phone to threaten a Texas State legislator from his jail cell, authorities conducted a series of raids aimed at confiscating the contraband phones.During the raids, according to a statement issued by TDCJ's spokesperson Michelle Lyons, two SIM cards were found hidden in Skinner's bible. Skinner denied having a cell phone, but an x-ray revealed an illegal cell phone hidden in his rectum.
Articles and TV Coverage
On November 10, 2007, Al Jazeera InternationalAl Jazeera International
Al Jazeera English is an international 24-hour English-language news and current affairs TV channel headquartered in Doha, Qatar. It is the sister channel of the Arabic-language Al Jazeera....
aired a two-part program entitled "American Justice - Fatal Flaws", the second part of which deals with wrongful convictions and evokes Hank's case and that of Curtis McCarty, who was exonerated from Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
after 22 years.
As of February 2010, the Hank Skinner case is included in the Medill Innocence project of Professor David Protess.
On February 24, Amarillo News Channel 10 posted its full, unedited exclusive 30-minute interview with Hank Skinner.
In March, 2010, The Skeptical Juror site carried a 10-part series reprising the facts of the Hank Skinner case.
On March 24, the evening Skinner's execution was stayed, Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner and Curtis McCarty, a former inmate on Oklahoma's death row who was exonerated by post-trial DNA analysis, were interviewed on Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
. Both pleaded against the denial of analysis of the full available evidence and expressed their belief that Skinner is innocent.
On April 4, Twila Busby's daughter Lisa and Busby's uncle Dave Brito "broke years of silence" and gave an interview to News Channel 10 in Amarillo. Lisa was the only one in her family to survive the murders and chose "to stay at her aunt and uncles' place -- keeping away from home because she was scared her mom's boyfriend [Hank Skinner] might turn violent after drinking that night at a New Year's Eve party." Lisa Busby also appeared to advocate for Skinner's execution. "We're suffering. We have no closure. We have no peace because he's still alive," she said. Lisa finished her interview by agreeing that the testing needed to be done, saying "I mean test the DNA and get it over with [...] That way we have something of peace and closure."
On April 22, 2010, Skinner wrote Channel 10 a letter to "clarify" statements he made in an interview that was aired nationally.
On May 3 Channel 10 produced a followup piece containing Skinner's letter to them regarding the statement he made. The statement in question related to the "violent stabbing and death of the beating victims" in the February interview. On camera, Skinner said referring to the murders: "if it had to happen and it had to go that way I wished I had 'uv done it because I wouldn't have done 'em like that."
On May 5, Skinner took issue with "false and undocumented allegations" circulating on the web.
On May 25, 2010, Time Magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
published an article about the case: "In death penalty case, innocence has to matter".
On June 10, 2010, "Politics Daily" published a report of recent interviews of former jurors at Skinner's trial, which states "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"
External links
- Hank Skinner's Self-Published Defense site with links to several legal documents
- Texas Attorney General Media Advisory re Hank Skinner
- Offender Information. Texas Department of Criminal JusticeTexas Department of Criminal JusticeThe Texas Department of Criminal Justice is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities, funding and certain...
. Retrieved on 2007-11-26. - Offenders on Death Row. Texas Department of Criminal JusticeTexas Department of Criminal JusticeThe Texas Department of Criminal Justice is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities, funding and certain...
. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
