TheAgitator.com
Is Texas About To Execute Another Innocent Man?
Monday, February 22nd, 2010My crime column this week looks at the pending executing of Hank Skinner.
The frightening thing is not only that the answer to the question above may be yes, but that Texas officials don’t seem to have much interest in finding out.
I’m not particularly anti-death penalty, but that one’s bad. If any politicians have the guts to do it, I think it will take legislation to ever get a majority of prosecutors to allow for revisiting of DNA/forensic evidence.
Who were the other innocent men executed?
Saying that Texas officials aren’t interested in finding out is rather generous when it appears as though they are acting in ways that demonstrate a vested interest in not finding out.
If he’s executed then he must be guilty and the system worked. If he’s not executed, then he must be innocent and the system worked. The system is flawless.
Hmmmm…what would they say if one of use didn’t want the tests?
Oh yeah…”If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to worry about.”
Threadjack.
All 3 officers aquitted in baton sodomy of Michael Mineo.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100222/ap_on_re_us/us_police_assault
@2
Cameron Todd Willingham
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Todd_Willingham
You don’t prove guilt by blocking any attempt to get at exonerating evidence. That means you, Governor Perry.
So if Perry’s kid is up for murder they won’t test DNA?
“So if Perry’s kid is up for murder they won’t test DNA?”
Given: Gov. Perry’s kid would be not be poor or a minority, so he would recieve effective counsel at trial. All trials in Texas are fair, but some are more fair than others.
Texas prosecuters have shown a penchant for convicting and killing the innocent. Wasn’t it in Dallas county that prosecuters would brag about getting innocent people convicted as evidence of their lawyering-fu?
This case is even more greivous than Radley can describe within the confines of his article.
Some DNA evidence was in fact sent for testing after the trial. The hairs found clutched in the victim’s hand excluded Hank Skinner. The results for the rape kit and fingernail scrapings were never reported. The state now refuses to inform Skinner about the physical location of the rape kit or fingernail scrapings, much less publish the results.
The handprint found on the trashbag that held the knife and a bloody dish towel did not belong to Hank Skinner. It more likely belonged to the killer who left bloody bootprints leading to the front door. Those prints were size 11-12. Hank, who owned no boots, has a shoe size of 9 1/2.
Not only was Skinner’s state-apponted attorney his former prosecutor, the attorney was awarded $86,000 for his pathetic and unsuccessful defense. That’s a record for Texas. It’s also just a tad shy of the $90,000 tax penalty the attorney was staring at due to his embezellment of drug forfeiture funds while serving as the DA who prosecuted Hank.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the attorney was a long time political supporter of the judge. Even if the attorney did not throw the case for the pay off, it sure looks bad.
@#2, #7:
Even before Willingham, there was Ruben Cantu.
Great article Radley. Where do you come up with the information?! I wonder if the, alleged, murderer had any scratches on his body? I think that would be very helpful in establishing, prior to DNA testing, whether or not, he was the one responsible for the fingernail evidence.
No skin excoriations? Not guilty! This appears to be murder by proxy!
I also have another bad opinion about this. I happen to be of the persuasion that if one murderer slips by because we eliminate the conviction of the innocent, so be it! Is this country so messed up that we have to incarcerate the innocent to make sure we get all the murderers in prison? I doubt the morality of it all. They still are refusing to see that they let the perp walk, when they imprison the innocent! That is double bad!
maybe Nancy Grace can get to the bottom of it.