Skinner vs. Switzer
On Monday the
Supreme Court passed a law allowing prisoners the access to DNA evidence in hopes to prove their innocence. The Supreme Court recently ruled 6 to 3 in the case of Henry Skinner.
Skinner was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and her two children. Skinner
had 45 minutes last year until death last year when the court took his case. Texas
is one of the 48 states which allows inmates access to DNA
evidence from the crime scenes. Sense allowing this, more than 260
prisoners have been let free. In 2009 a largely divided
decision stated that the testing would be left to congress and ruled that the
convicted prisoners had no constitutional right to testing but allowed a small
opening for those who tried to prove the state’s law which governed the access
to DNA are insufficient.
Skinners attorney protested against that by suing the Gray County District
Attorney Lynn Switzer, saying the judgment
to withhold DNA testing in his case went against his (Skinner) federal civil
rights. Skinner and his attorney hope that the DNA testing may allow proof
in Skinners case. The Texas court came back saying that Skinner did not meet the requirements of the state’s law allowing him
access to DNA testing, Justices Thomas, Kennedy, and Alito disagreed saying that civil rights laws
should not allow Skinner another way out when he has used and exhausted all
appeals. Skinner continues to pretest his innocence. Despite the fact the
he was there during the 1993 murder of his girlfriend her two sons. The police
found Skinner hiding in a previous girlfriends closet covered in blood and a
gash on his hand. Skinner said during the murders he was passed out on a
mixture of codeine and alcohol, which was proved on a legal test. Skinner says
he woke up to find his girlfriend and two boys dead, the blood was from examining
the bodies. Proocuters did not test all of the evidence which was found on the
crime scense including the hair and skin cells under Busby’s (girlfriend)
nails. Skinners attorney feared that getting more DNA testing may prove Skinner
as guilty. Northwester University Medill Project have belief that Busby’s (now
dead) uncle may have been the killer. Skinner
still wants the evidence tested.
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