Pro-lifers all the way...

Death-row inmate Hank Skinner was slowly chewing his way through the
enormous cheeseburger that was supposed to be his last supper when
good news arrived: he'd no longer be forced to digest the
artery-clogging meal in an executioner's chair.

The US Supreme Court intervened late on Wednesday to prevent a lethal
injection from being given to the convicted murderer, saying it wants
more time to consider his appeal. "I'd made up my mind that I was
going to die," the condemned man told guards. "I really feel like I
won today."

Skinner has always maintained his innocence of the murder of his
girlfriend Twila Busby and her two adult sons at their home in Texas
on New Year's Eve 1993, and that the killer was the victim's uncle. To
prove his version of events, he wants key crime-scene evidence,
including semen samples and bloodied knives, to be DNA tested.

But several courts, of increasing seniority, have denied that request,
saying that a convicted man has no right under US law to seek a review
of evidence that his defence team did not get analysed at his original
trial.

Even though the execution has been stayed, there is no guarantee that
the Supreme Court will authorise tests that could either confirm or
disprove Skinner's guilt. The justices merely want more time to study
his appeal – and will probably not make a decision for several weeks.

In the meantime, Skinner – whose full menu for his last meal was two
chicken thighs, a double bacon cheeseburger, fried catfish, onion
rings, French fries, a salad with ranch dressing and a milkshake –
remains on death row at the Walls unit in Huntsville, Texas, where his
fate is the latest cause célèbre for campaigners seeking to abolish
capital punishment. In recent days, the state's gung-ho Governor, Rick
Perry, has been bombarded with letters from around the world asking
him to delay the execution.

Skinner's supporters say he was asleep, having consumed drink and
drugs when Busby was raped, strangled, and left on their living room
floor with her head battered by an axe handle. He also slept through
the murder of her sons, who were stabbed in the back as they slept,
they claim.

At his trial, in 1995, Skinner's defence lawyer failed to have most of
the evidence from the scene, including a rape kit, several biological
samples, and the alleged murder weapons DNA tested. The jury convicted
him after just two hours of debate.

Doubt began being cast on Skinner's guilt in 2000, when a group of
students from the David Protess Medill Innocence Project at
Northwestern University, who have been responsible for the exoneration
of five others on death row, came to Texas to investigate his case.

They interviewed Andrea Reed, a star prosecution witness, who recanted
her testimony that Skinner confessed. They also discovered that
Busby's uncle, Robert Donnell, had a history of sexual violence and
had made advances towards the victim that night.

It ought to be easy to establish if Donnell, rather than Skinner,
fought with Busby before her murder: scientists would simply analyse
flesh samples taken from beneath her fingernails, and blood found on
the weapon.

In the meantime, Skinner's fate has gained international prominence.
He recently married a French woman who campaigns against the death
penalty, and President Nicolas Sarkozy has been among those calling
for an appeal.

On 3/26/10 1:23 PM, jps wrote:

Pro-lifers all the way...

Death-row inmate Hank Skinner was slowly chewing his way through the
enormous cheeseburger that was supposed to be his last supper when
good news arrived: he'd no longer be forced to digest the
artery-clogging meal in an executioner's chair.

The US Supreme Court intervened late on Wednesday to prevent a lethal
injection from being given to the convicted murderer, saying it wants
more time to consider his appeal. "I'd made up my mind that I was
going to die," the condemned man told guards. "I really feel like I
won today."

Skinner has always maintained his innocence of the murder of his
girlfriend Twila Busby and her two adult sons at their home in Texas
on New Year's Eve 1993, and that the killer was the victim's uncle. To
prove his version of events, he wants key crime-scene evidence,
including semen samples and bloodied knives, to be DNA tested.

But several courts, of increasing seniority, have denied that request,
saying that a convicted man has no right under US law to seek a review
of evidence that his defence team did not get analysed at his original
trial.

Even though the execution has been stayed, there is no guarantee that
the Supreme Court will authorise tests that could either confirm or
disprove Skinner's guilt. The justices merely want more time to study
his appeal – and will probably not make a decision for several weeks.

In the meantime, Skinner – whose full menu for his last meal was two
chicken thighs, a double bacon cheeseburger, fried catfish, onion
rings, French fries, a salad with ranch dressing and a milkshake –
remains on death row at the Walls unit in Huntsville, Texas, where his
fate is the latest cause célèbre for campaigners seeking to abolish
capital punishment. In recent days, the state's gung-ho Governor, Rick
Perry, has been bombarded with letters from around the world asking
him to delay the execution.

Skinner's supporters say he was asleep, having consumed drink and
drugs when Busby was raped, strangled, and left on their living room
floor with her head battered by an axe handle. He also slept through
the murder of her sons, who were stabbed in the back as they slept,
they claim.

At his trial, in 1995, Skinner's defence lawyer failed to have most of
the evidence from the scene, including a rape kit, several biological
samples, and the alleged murder weapons DNA tested. The jury convicted
him after just two hours of debate.

Doubt began being cast on Skinner's guilt in 2000, when a group of
students from the David Protess Medill Innocence Project at
Northwestern University, who have been responsible for the exoneration
of five others on death row, came to Texas to investigate his case.

They interviewed Andrea Reed, a star prosecution witness, who recanted
her testimony that Skinner confessed. They also discovered that
Busby's uncle, Robert Donnell, had a history of sexual violence and
had made advances towards the victim that night.

It ought to be easy to establish if Donnell, rather than Skinner,
fought with Busby before her murder: scientists would simply analyse
flesh samples taken from beneath her fingernails, and blood found on
the weapon.

In the meantime, Skinner's fate has gained international prominence.
He recently married a French woman who campaigns against the death
penalty, and President Nicolas Sarkozy has been among those calling
for an appeal.


Texas doesn't care whether it executes the guilty or the innocent...it
is, after all, a right to life state. But not for those already here.

--
Conservatives - just pretend Obama's health care legislation is another
unnecessary war and you'll feel better about it.

On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:23:45 -0700, jps wrote:


Pro-lifers all the way...

Death-row inmate Hank Skinner was slowly chewing his way through the
enormous cheeseburger that was supposed to be his last supper when
good news arrived: he'd no longer be forced to digest the
artery-clogging meal in an executioner's chair.

texas already murdered the innocent cameron todd willingham. when a
commission started to investigate, the fanatically pro life governor
fired the commission.