On October 13, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argu­ments in Skinner v. Switzer. Hank Skinner was con­vict­ed of mur­der­ing his girl­friend and her two sons in 1993 in their Texas home. He has always main­tained his inno­cence, and there is untest­ed DNA evi­dence that may prove some­one else com­mit­ted the crime. Some DNA test­ing was con­duct­ed before tri­al, plac­ing Skinner in the house where his girl­friend lived, a fact he does not dis­pute. Although Texas has a law allow­ing some post-con­vic­tion DNA test­ing, Gray County District Attorney Lynn Switzer has refused to sur­ren­der the untest­ed items, claim­ing that Skinner’s appeal has come too late. Almost all such cas­es are set­tled in state court, but because of Texas’s refusal to allow the test­ing before his exe­cu­tion, Skinner is ask­ing the Supreme Court to rule that his legal chal­lenge can be heard under the fed­er­al civ­il rights law, rather than as part of his ordi­nary appeal. The low­er fed­er­al courts are split on this issue, with most cir­cuits allow­ing such a chal­lenge. This pre­lim­i­nary issue of whether Skinner has an avenue to pur­sue the test­ing is a nar­row one, but with­out the test­ing he could be executed soon.

(M. Graczyk, ​“Death row inmate seeks high court OK for DNA tests,” Associated Press, October 11, 2010). See U.S. Supreme Court and Innocence.

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