Content deleted Content added
Vanjagenije (talk | contribs) (edited with ProveIt) |
Rodrigo5260 (talk | contribs) added Category:Deaths from surgical complications using HotCat Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit Advanced mobile edit |
||
| (43 intermediate revisions by 27 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{
'''Henry Watkins "Hank" Skinner''' (born April 4, 1962) is a [[death row]] inmate in [[Texas]]. In 1995, he 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. On March 24, 2010, twenty 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 Appeals on November 7, 2011.▼
{{lead too long|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Hank Skinner
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Henry Watkins Skinner
| birth_date = {{birth date|1962|4|4}}
| birth_place = [[Danville, Virginia]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|2|16|1962|4|4}}
| death_place = [[Galveston, Texas]], U.S.
| cause =
| resting_place =
| nationality =
| alias =
| motive =
| charge =
| conviction = [[Capital murder]]<ref name="inmate03304912">{{cite web|url=https://inmate.tdcj.texas.gov/InmateSearch/viewDetail.action?sid=03304912|title=Inmate Information Details 03304912|access-date=February 16, 2023|work=[[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]]|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230216215220/https://inmate.tdcj.texas.gov/InmateSearch/viewDetail.action?sid=03304912|archive-date=February 16, 2023|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| conviction_penalty =
| occupation =
| spouse = <!--Do not include spouse unless notable or they are relevant to the crime.-->
| parents = <!--Do not include parents unless notable or they are relevant to the crime.-->
| children = <!--Do not include children unless notable or they are relevant to the crime.-->
| television = ''[[On Death Row]]''
}}
▲'''Henry Watkins
On March 6, 2011, the Supreme Court issued 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 did not specifically grant Skinner the DNA testing he had been seeking, but on June 1, 2012, the Texas attorney general's office finally agreed to the analysis of the evidence required by the defense.<ref>{{cite magazine| url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2057836,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313082917/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2057836,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=March 13, 2011 | magazine=Time | first=Michael A. | last=Lindenberger | title=The U.S. Supreme Court and the Right to Test DNA Samples | date=March 9, 2011}}</ref>
On November 14, 2012, the [[Texas Attorney General]]'s office released an advisory to the [[Gray County, Texas|Gray County]] state district court that convicted Skinner advising the court that the DNA testing further implicated Skinner in the Busby family murders. Among the findings: Skinner's blood was found in numerous places in the back bedroom where Busby's two sons were murdered. Skinner's DNA was also found on the handle of a bloody knife, but along with DNA from one of the sons and an "unknown contributor".
On August 29, 2013, a private Virginia laboratory 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, but do not belong to them, with only one of them belonging to Skinner. These results could incriminate Robert Donnell, a deceased (1997) maternal uncle, who Twila Busby had told friends had molested her on multiple occasions and who had threatened her shortly before the murders. {{As of|2013|September}}, these findings had not yet been assessed by judicial authorities.<ref name="Brandi Grissom">{{cite news| url=http://standdown.typepad.com/weblog/2013/08/hank-skinner-dna-testing-results.html | work=The standdown Texas Project | first=Brandi | last=Grissom | title=Hank Skinner DNA Testing Results | date=August 30, 2013}}</ref><ref name="Jordan Smith">{{cite news|url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2013-09-06/skinner-defense-new-dna-testing-suggests-his-innocence | work=Austin Chronicle| first=Jordan | last=Smith | title=Skinner Defense: New DNA Testing Suggests His Innocence | date=September 6, 2013}}</ref>
On February 3 and 4, 2014 an evidentiary hearing took place in Pampa, Texas. "Prosecutors argued that the tests only confirmed Skinner's guilt, while lawyers for the 51-year-old defendant said the results raised enough questions about the identity of the perpetrator that a jury would not have condemned him to death."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.texastribune.org/2014/02/05/dna-hearing-brings-skinner-case-closer-resolution/ | work=Texas Tribune| first=Brandi | last=Grissom | title=DNA hearing brings Skinner case closer to resolution | date=February 5, 2014}}</ref>
In July 2014, Judge Steven Emmert issued a ruling saying that "it was 'reasonably probable' Skinner would have still been convicted of a triple murder even if recently conducted DNA evidence had been available at his 1995 trial".
The Judicial District court continues to rule that the DNA testing is not favorable to the accused, while the defense team considers that the presence of an unknown third-party DNA detected, and the loss of evidence by the state should definitively rule out the reasonable character of the conviction and even more the death penalty.<ref>{{cite news
Skinner was scheduled to be executed on September 13, 2023, his sixth scheduled execution date. However, he died in February of that year.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220613-texas-death-row-inmate-optimistic-after-27-years | title=Texas death row inmate 'optimistic' after 27 years | publisher=France 24 | date=June 13, 2022 | access-date=December 1, 2022}}</ref><ref name="death">{{cite web |last=Burch |first=Jamie |date=February 16, 2023 |title=Pampa man on death row for triple murder dies 7 months before execution date |url=https://abc7amarillo.com/news/local/pampa-man-on-death-row-for-triple-murder-dies-7-months-before-execution-date-henry-hank-sinner-pampa-texas-twila-busby-randolph-busby-elwin-caler-wooden-ax-handle-kitchen-knife-beat-choke-stab-huntsville |access-date=February 16, 2023 |website=KVII |language=en |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230216214040/https://abc7amarillo.com/news/local/pampa-man-on-death-row-for-triple-murder-dies-7-months-before-execution-date-henry-hank-sinner-pampa-texas-twila-busby-randolph-busby-elwin-caler-wooden-ax-handle-kitchen-knife-beat-choke-stab-huntsville |archive-date=February 16, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>
==Circumstances surrounding the murders==
Line 20 ⟶ 48:
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.
Skinner was arrested several hours later, being found in the darkened front bedroom of Reed's home.
==Postponed execution and campaign for DNA testing==
Line 29 ⟶ 57:
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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82R/billtext/pdf/SB00122F.pdf#navpanes=0 |title=An Act relating to post conviction forensic DNA analysis |publisher=Capitol.state.tx.us |access-date=August 11, 2013}}</ref> On September 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.<ref>{{cite web | title = DNA Issue | work = hankskinner.org | url = http://www.hankskinner.org/hs/hs.php?en,legal#dna | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111109054441/http://www.hankskinner.org/hs/hs.php?en,legal#dna | archive-date = November 9, 2011
On November 7, 2011, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed Skinner's most recent execution so that a determination could be made about whether Texas law allowed for DNA evidence from the crime scene to be tested.
On June 1, 2012, one month after an oral argument at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the Texas attorney general's office says it no longer opposes a death row inmate's request for DNA testing his attorneys say could prove his innocence.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2012/jun/01/bc-tx-texas-execution-skinner/?news&nation-world | work=The Victoria Advocate | first=Michael | last=Graczyc | title=DNA testing to go forward for death row inmate | date=June 1, 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
In November 2012, a further analysis of DNA evidence found Skinner's blood on numerous objects and furniture in the back bedroom where Busby's sons were murdered.
==U.S. Supreme Court issues==
Line 41 ⟶ 69:
===March 2011 ruling===
On July 22, 2010, Skinner's lawyer presented his brief to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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."
Line 63 ⟶ 91:
On May 24, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would review Skinner's case.<ref>{{cite web | title = Supreme Court To Decide If Texas Death Row Inmate Can Use New DNA Evidence in Defense | work = Huffington Post | date = May 24, 2010 | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/24/supreme-court-to-decide-i_n_587094.html | access-date = May 24, 2010}}</ref> 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.<ref>http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/05/26/2219699/getting-facts-straight-in-texas.html#ixzz0pAzQ9jWD{{Dead link|date=March 2012}}</ref>
At issue was 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.
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.
===Claims against trial counsel===
Comer was a former [[district attorney]] 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 Comer's appointment as a possible case of [[cronyism]], where 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 [[Taxation in the United States|federal income taxes]]:
<blockquote>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.<ref>{{cite news | last = Duggan | first = Paul | title = In Texas, Defense Lapses Fail to Halt Executions | newspaper = The Washington Post | date = May 12, 2000 | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/
Comer has stated, repeated on a 2018 episode of [[HLN (TV network)|HLN]]
===Witness recants testimony===
The main accusation witness was Andrea Joyce Reed, who owned the house where Skinner was found by police several hours after the murders.
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.
Skinner has never commented if he asked Reed not to call anybody that night.
===Occupational therapist testimony===
"Occupational therapist Joe Tarpley testified at trial that, as result of an injury 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.
===Toxicology testimony===
At trial, the defense's toxicology expert, Dr. Lowry, had stated that based on the alcohol and codeine in his blood, Skinner was too intoxicated to be able to physically commit the murders, but his testimony was weakened by the original statements of 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. Lowry did not testify to when, exactly, Skinner ingested the codeine.
Harold Kalant, professor emeritus of toxicology and pharmacology at the University of Toronto, reviewed several of Skinner's trial documents.
===Theory about alternative suspect and rape===
Shortly before the murders Twila Busby had been threatened by an uncle (killed in an automobile accident when drunk driving on January 5, 1997), Robert Donnell.
"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.
During cross-examination, at an evidentiary hearing in 2005, Ellis testified that she did not see any blood in the truck and that Donnell was just cleaning the truck.<ref>[http://www.hankskinner.org/pdf.php?pdf=HT111605v1&KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true Evidentiary Hearing pp. 42–43] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183413/http://www.hankskinner.org/pdf.php?pdf=HT111605v1&KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true |date=March 3, 2016 }}</ref>
According to the [[Texas Department of Public Safety]], Donnell had no prior criminal history.<ref>https://records.txdps.state.tx.us/DPS_WEB/Cch/index.aspx Texas Dept of Public Safety {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614033627/https://records.txdps.state.tx.us/DPS_WEB/Cch/index.aspx |date=June 14, 2007 }}</ref> According to the affidavit of Cliff Carpenter,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hankskinner.org/ |title=The case of Hank Skinner |access-date=April 9, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321100930/http://www.hankskinner.org/ |archive-date=March 21, 2016 }}</ref> 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.
There is also an affidavit<ref>[http://www.hankskinner.org/pdf.php?pdf=ronnie&KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true Affidavit of Ronnie Campbell] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183350/http://www.hankskinner.org/pdf.php?pdf=ronnie&KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true |date=March 3, 2016 }}</ref> by 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).
On November 14, 2012, the [[Texas Attorney General]] indicated that test results on the rape kit indicated that Twila Busby had not been raped.<ref name="Grissom"/>
===Claims of color-blindness and accidental codeine ingestion===
It has never been clearly determined exactly how Skinner ingested the codeine which he said made him comatose.
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.<ref>[http://www.hankskinner.com/response.html Skinner's response to unsubstantiated allegations circulating on the Internet] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023325/http://www.hankskinner.com/response.html |date=March 4, 2016 }}</ref>
Line 116 ⟶ 144:
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 was found on the clothes.
On November 14, 2012, the [[Texas Attorney General]] released a statement indicating that Skinner's DNA, and that of an unknown contributor, was found on the bloody knife on the front porch.
===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.<ref>{{cite web | title = Hank Skinner – Hell Hole News | work = Forum | publisher = Prisontalk | url = http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=440570 | access-date = June 2, 2010 | archive-date = July 15, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110715115927/http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=440570 | url-status = dead }}</ref> Lynn Switzer, the Gray County District Attorney, claims that additional testing would not prove Hank Skinner's innocence.<ref>{{cite web | title = Congratulations, Lynn Switzer | work = The Skeptical Juror | date = May 26, 2010 | url = http://www.skepticaljuror.com/2010/05/congratulations-lynn-switzer.html }}</ref>
The claim that Twila Busby had been raped was not raised at Skinner's trial.<ref name="turner"/> Further, medical examiner Elizabeth Peacock testified at trial that Twila Busby was not raped.<ref>[http://www.hankskinner.com/pdf/peacock-excerpt.pdf Excerpt from testimony at evidentiary hearing re Dr. Elizabeth Peacock's testimony at trial] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191938/http://www.hankskinner.com/pdf/peacock-excerpt.pdf |date=March 3, 2016 }}</ref>
An analysis of the rape kit, conducted in November 2012, showed Twila Busby had not been raped.
===Skinner vs. Switzer===
On November 27, 2009, the defense team filed a complaint in federal court against the [[Gray County, Texas|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."
Skinner has maintained that the decision to not test certain pieces of DNA evidence was not his.
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."<ref>[http://www.ellis.senate.state.tx.us/pr11/p052011a.htm/
==Post-conviction history==
Skinner maintains he is innocent, and has repeatedly appealed his conviction both at state and federal levels.<ref name="hankskinner1">{{cite web |url=http://www.hankskinner.org/hs/hs.php?lang=en&site=legal |title=The case of Hank Skinner – LEGAL DOCUMENTS |publisher=Hankskinner.org |access-date=August 15, 2012 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303172407/http://www.hankskinner.org/hs/hs.php?lang=en&site=legal |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Marriage===
Skinner married Sandrine Ageorges while on Texas death row in 2008. Ageorges-Skinner, a French national, has been an anti-death penalty activist for more than thirty years – well before she met Skinner.
===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 Skinner.<ref>{{cite web | title = Robert C. Owen | work = The UT Law Faculty | publisher = The University of Texas at Austin | url = http://www.utexas.edu/law/faculty/owenrc/ | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121106190559/http://www.utexas.edu/law/faculty/owenrc/ | archive-date = November 6, 2012
===Partial appeal accepted, then rejected===
On May 14, 2008, a limited [[certificate of appealability]] was granted.
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.<ref>
===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).
After the SCOTUS decision, Skinner was given a new execution date of November 11, 2011.
[[File:PolunskyUnitWestLivingstonTX.jpg|thumb|[[Allan B. Polunsky Unit]]]]
Skinner
===Skinner's writings===
Skinner is the author of a series of self-published articles called "Hell Hole News" which covers a broad range of topics related to his case and the conditions on Texas' death row.<ref>{{cite web | title = Hell Hole News from Texas Death Row by Hank Skinner | work = Prisonmovement's Weblog | url = http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/hell-hole-news-from-texas-death-row-by-hank-skinner/ | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120630105811/http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/hell-hole-news-from-texas-death-row-by-hank-skinner/ | archive-date =
===Prison issues: contraband cell phone and SIM===
After a fellow death row inmate, [[Richard Lee Tabler|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.<ref>[http://cbs11tv.com/local/Texas.Prison.Shakedown.2.846437.html CBS 11 TV: 13 Cell Phones Found In Texas Prison Shakedown] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091215103235/http://cbs11tv.com/local/Texas.Prison.Shakedown.2.846437.html |date=December 15, 2009 }}</ref>
During the raids, according to a statement issued by TDCJ's spokesperson [[Michelle Lyons]], two [[SIM card]]s 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.<ref>{{cite magazine | last = Hylton | first = Hilary | title = Trying to Keep Cell Phones Out of Prison | magazine = Time | date = November 26, 2008 | url = http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1861553,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081128175312/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1861553,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = November 28, 2008 }}</ref>
==Death==
Skinner died at Hospital Galveston in [[Galveston, Texas]], on February 16, 2023. He was 60.<ref name="death"/><ref name="TDCJInfo">{{cite web|title=Inmate Information Henry Watkins Skinner|url=https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/death_row/dr_info/skinnerhenry.jpg|work=[[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]]|access-date=February 16, 2023}}</ref> His attorneys said he died due to complications following surgery in December 2022 to remove a [[brain tumor]].<ref>{{Cite web |author-link=Associated Press |date=February 16, 2023 |title=Texas Death Row Inmate Dies After December Surgery for Tumor |url=https://www.kbtx.com/2023/02/17/texas-death-row-inmate-dies-after-december-surgery-tumor/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308050208/https://www.kbtx.com/2023/02/17/texas-death-row-inmate-dies-after-december-surgery-tumor/ |archive-date=March 8, 2023 |access-date=February 27, 2023}}</ref> He is buried at [[Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery]].
==Articles and television coverage==
On November 10, 2007, [[Al Jazeera International]] aired a two-part program
As of February 2010, the Skinner case is included in the [[Medill Innocence Project|Medill Innocence project]] of Professor David Protess.<ref name="Medill Innocence Project"/>
Line 174 ⟶ 205:
In March 2010, The Skeptical Juror site carried a 10-part series reprising the facts of the Skinner case.<ref>{{cite web | title = (Search) | work = The Skeptical Juror | url = http://www.skepticaljuror.com/search?updated-min=2010-03-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2010-04-01T00:00:00-07:00&max-results=27 }}</ref>
On March 24, the evening Skinner's execution was stayed, Ageorges-Skinner and Curtis McCarty<ref>[[List of exonerated death row inmates|Retrieved March 26, 2010.]]</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnzDTjeVreQ&feature=player_embedded |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/JnzDTjeVreQ |archive-date=
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.
On April 22, 2010, Skinner wrote Channel 10 a letter to "clarify" statements he made in an interview that was aired nationally.<ref>[http://kfda.images.worldnow.com/images/incoming/10listens@newschannel10.com_20100503_152122.pdf Letter from Hank Skinner to Channel 10 News] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035051/http://kfda.images.worldnow.com/images/incoming/10listens%40newschannel10.com_20100503_152122.pdf |date=March 4, 2016 }}</ref> On May 3 Channel 10 produced a follow-up piece containing Skinner's letter to them regarding the statement he made.
On May 25, 2010, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time
On June 10, 2010,
On November 8, 2011, in the [[Huffington Post]], David Protess described the succession of district attorneys who have prevented the DNA from being tested.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-protess/hank-skinner-execution-justice_b_1080343.html | work=Huffington Post | title=The Texas D.A.s Who Denied Hank Skinner Justice| first=David | last=Protess | date=November 8, 2011}}</ref>
On March 22, 2012, episode 1 of the UK Channel 4 series
==See also==
* [[Capital punishment in Texas]]
==References==
Line 197 ⟶ 227:
==External links==
{{Portal|Texas|Biography}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20221208013341/https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/death_row/dr_offenders_on_dr.html Inmates on Death Row]. ''[[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]]''. Retrieved on
* {{IMDb name|4976164}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skinner, Hank}}
[[Category:1962 births]]
[[Category:1993 murders in the United States]]
▲[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American people convicted of murder]]
[[Category:American prisoners sentenced to death]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by Texas]]▼
[[Category:People convicted of murder by Texas]]
[[Category:People from Danville, Virginia]]
▲[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by Texas]]
[[Category:Prisoners who died in Texas detention]]
[[Category:Writers from Texas]]
[[Category:Writers from Virginia]]
[[Category:Deaths from surgical complications]]
| |||