Texas is plan­ning to exe­cute Hank Skinner on November 9 despite the fact that vital evi­dence from the crime scene in his case has not been sub­ject­ed to DNA test­ing. Skinner has always main­tained his inno­cence. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Skinner could file in fed­er­al court to com­pel the test­ing, but that lit­i­ga­tion has not been com­plet­ed. Moreover, a new Texas law became effec­tive on September 1 to ensure that pro­ce­dur­al bar­ri­ers do not pre­vent the test­ing of bio­log­i­cal evi­dence that was not pre­vi­ous­ly test­ed or could be sub­ject­ed to new­er test­ing. State sen­a­tor Rodney Ellis, who co-spon­sored the new law that passed the Texas Legislature with over­whelm­ing bipar­ti­san sup­port, said, ​“The new law was intend­ed to make advanced DNA test­ing avail­able in all cas­es where it can aid the truth-seek­ing process, and Skinner’s case falls square­ly with­in that cat­e­go­ry.” So far, Texas author­i­ties have resist­ed per­form­ing the DNA tests for over 10 years. Skinner’s attor­neys filed motions in state dis­trict court on September 2 to com­pel the test­ing and with­draw the execution date.

(Press Release, Attorneys for Henry Skinner, Sept. 6, 2011). See Innocence and Arbitrariness.

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