Unlimited Stay Granted for Skinner Execution. Will the DNA be Tested?

Yesterday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued an unlimited stay in the execution of Hank Skinner.

Skinner was set to be executed tomorrow evening for the murders of his girlfriend and her two adult sons on New Years Eve of 1993 in Pampa, TX. Since the beginning, Skinner has maintained his innocence in the crime and there are numerous factors that make a strong case for DNA testing.

But the fight for testing crime scene evidence for DNA is just beginning. Earlier this year, Rick Perry signed into a law SB 122, a bill that amended Texas' post-conviction DNA evidence testing law. Now, the court must decide if that law applies to Skinner's appeals. According to the Texas Tribune, the post conviction law has been changed three times since its adoption in 2001, each time with the purpose of removing restriction on access to testing. In Texas, 45 innocent men have been exonerated using DNA testing. In October, 57 year-old Michael Morton was freed after serving 25 years in Texas jail for killing his wife. Morton was able to walk out of prison as a free man after DNA testing proved his innocence and linked another man to the murder.

In a statement about the Court's decision, Skinner's attorney Rob Owen explained, "The Court of Criminal Appeals with its decision today, has ensured that Mr. Skinner's request for DNA testing will receive the thorough and serious consideration it deserves."

The appeals court has previously denied Skinner's requests for testing, citing provisions in the law that allowed DNA testing only in cases where analysis was not done during the original trial because the technology did not exist or for some other reason that was not the fault of the defendant. Lawmakers repealed that part of the law this year.

Testing this crime scene evidence provides an opportunity to more certain about Skinner's innocence or guilt. Let's see how Texas decides to procede.