Staying Execution: Supremes Get Something Right - FDL

[WillyT]

Staying Execution: Supremes Get Something Right
By: Ruth Calvo Sunday March 28, 2010 7:00 am

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The Supreme Court put off the execution of a Texas convicted person whose DNA evidence was never tested in the case against him. For once, it looks like the highest court in the land ruled in favor of an individual. Hank Skinner has been allowed to live for a while, at least until all doubts are settled. That is a basic standard of justice.

In the Skinner case, evidence that was obtained at the crime scene was neglected even though the person Texas courts condemned to execution protested he was not there, and was innocent. Another person has been implicated in the crime.

Skinner was set to die Wednesday for the 1993 murders of his live-in girlfriend, Twila Busby, and her two mentally disabled adult sons — a massacre he says he did not commit. For more than a decade, Skinner has been asking Texas courts to test a slew of DNA evidence that was not analyzed during his 1995 trial. His entreaties have been repeatedly rejected. In the days before his death, Gov. Rick Perry’s office was inundated with thousands of letters from around the world requesting such testing. Some state lawmakers asked Perry to postpone the execution to allow for analysis of the evidence. But he didn’t have to act on Wednesday. About an hour before Texas officials were scheduled to push a poison cocktail through Skinner’s veins, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay.

Skinner got the news as he was eating his last meal at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Walls Unit in Hunstville. Officials there said he was tucking in to a cheeseburger that was among the smorgasbord of items he ordered to eat before his execution: a salad with ranch dressing and bacon bits, Popeye’s chicken, fried catfish, onion rings and a chocolate milkshake. “I had made up my mind I was going to die,” Skinner said. “I feel like I really won today.”

The court issued an indefinite stay, but it did not agree to accept Skinner’s case. The court said it needed more time to review Skinner’s claims and to decide whether to intervene. “This action suggests that the court believes there are important issues that require closer examination,” said Rob Owen, Skinner’s attorney and co-director of the University of Texas School of Law’s Capital Punishment Clinic. “We remain hopeful that the court will agree to hear Mr. Skinner’s case and ultimately allow him the chance to prove his innocence through DNA testing.”

While prosecutors tested some DNA evidence — blood samples from Skinner’s clothing that placed him at the scene of the crime — a pile of DNA evidence went unexamined, including a rape kit, murder weapons and other biological samples found the night of the murders.

For a person to be condemned to die, there should be no stone unturned to prove his guilt. In this case, that standard was not met.

I would love to have more reason to thank the Supremes for actions like this, that actually uphold this country’s claim to be under the Rule of Law. This time, they acted well and made the country proud.

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Link: http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/37717

:kick:

[unblock]

1. who would run du if skinner were executed?

:hide:

[MajorChode]

2. Gov Goodhair damn sure wasn't going to act on this

He'd rather see an innocent man die than sacrifice his "conservative" principles. He's already proven this soundly.

[customerserviceguy]

3. This is not an innocent man

and I'll be happy when the DNA evidence shows it. If you go to resources other than death-penalty opponents to look up the cases they champion, you find that this evil individual got fucked up on drugs, and murdered his girlfriend and her disabled children. One of his actual defense arguments is that the blood splatter pattern on a wall could not have been created by someone trying to fight off a woman and two disabled people against one pretty coked-up man.

Bullshit. And when they do execute him, I hope they remember he's already had his 'last meal', and they give him bread and water, if anything. I wonder what Twyla Busby had to eat at her last meal.

[WillyT]

4. And If It Shows It WASN'T Him ???

You gonna cook him an, "I'm sorry, I was wrong" meal???

Sounds to me like you're ready to "pull the trigger" no matter the results.

Why is that?

:shrug:

[customerserviceguy]

6. If it shows it wasn't him

then of course, he will be released.

DNA is a double-edged sword, it has the capacity to prove without doubt that a murderer did a crime, too. That should make it easier to get the speedy executions we need to re-establish the death penalty as a deterrent. When you can kill someone wantonly, and face a two percent chance of being executed for it a quarter of a century later, the DP has lost any deterrent value it used to have.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

7. I can think of a number of countries with criminal justice systems more to your liking. -nt

[Orsino]

8. +1 n/t

[Greyhound]

5. K&R.