On March 7, the U.S. Supreme Court held (6 – 3) that Hank Skinner, a Texas death row inmate who came with­in an hour of exe­cu­tion in 2010, can chal­lenge the state’s refusal to test cru­cial DNA evi­dence from his case in fed­er­al court. Skinner has always main­tained his inno­cence of the 1993 mur­ders of his girl­friend and her two sons and request­ed that Texas per­form DNA test­ing on key pieces of evi­dence that might point to anoth­er sus­pect. At issue in Skinner v. Switzer, No. 09 – 9000, was whether Skinner was barred from inde­pen­dent­ly rais­ing such a chal­lenge under the fed­er­al Civil Rights Act (§1983) because he was actu­al­ly appeal­ing his con­vic­tion. Writing for the major­i­ty, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, ​“Measured against our pri­or hold­ings, Skinner has prop­er­ly invoked §1983. Success in his suit for DNA test­ing would not ​‘nec­es­sar­i­ly imply’ the inva­lid­i­ty of his con­vic­tion. While test results might prove excul­pa­to­ry, that out­come is hard­ly inevitable …” Skinner’s attor­ney, Robert C. Owen, Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Texas at Austin, wel­comed the Court’s rul­ing, not­ing that the denial of DNA test­ing in Skinner’s case is a rare occur­rence: “[T]here is no rea­son to fear that law­suits like Mr. Skinner’s will over­whelm the fed­er­al courts. The high court’s rul­ing will sim­ply make it pos­si­ble for Mr. Skinner to vin­di­cate his due process rights in fed­er­al court, a right long enjoyed by pris­on­ers in oth­er parts of the coun­try. We look for­ward to mak­ing our case in fed­er­al court that Texas’s inex­plic­a­ble refusal to grant Mr. Skinner access to evi­dence for DNA test­ing is fun­da­men­tal­ly unfair and cannot stand.”

Justice Ginsburg was joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan. 

(Skinner v. Switzer, No. 09 – 9000, U.S. Mar. 7, 2011). See Supreme Court and Innocence.

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