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Hank Skinner

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Henry Watkins "Hank" Skinner (born April 4, 1962) is convicted of bludgeoning to death his live-in girlfriend, Twila Busby, and stabbing to death her two sons, Randy Busby and Scooter Caler. Skinner was sentenced to death. The murders occurred on December 31, 1993 at 801 East Campbell Avenue in Pampa, Texas.

The murders

Twila Busby, 40, arrived home between 11:00 and 11:15 p.m. Shortly afterwards she was bludgeoned to death. Her younger son Randy was stabbed to death in his bed. Her older son, Elwin “Scooter” Caler, 22, was also stabbed, but managed to escape to a neighbor’s yard where he collapsed on the porch. He never regained consciousness. The neighbor found him and called police at 11:59 p.m.

Skinner's whereabouts

It is believed that after the attacks, Elwin Caler revived Skinner and led him outside, but left him in an alley. Skinner suffered a cut on his right palm that night, possibly from stumbling. Other than that possibility, Skinner suffered no noticeable harm from the attacks. Skinner managed to find his way to a different neighbor’s house, the home of Andrea Joyce Reed, where he was arrested three hours later.

Following his arrest Skinner was unable to stand on his own for police photos. After being photographed, he was then taken to a hospital where blood samples were taken. The samples, taken six-and-a-half hours after the murders, showed a blood alcohol level of 0.21, more than twice the legal limit in Texas for intoxication. Tests also revealed high levels of codeine in him. Skinner could not have drank alcohol at his neighbor’s house as she was a recovering alcoholic and did not allow it in her house.

Evidence

The most damning evidence against Skinner was that bloody hand prints found at various parts of the crime scene were definitively determined to match Skinner's hands and the blood was determined to be that of the victims.

Witness recantation

The neighbor, Reed, who aided Skinner after the murders, has claimed she was threatened with being charged as an accessory after the fact and with harboring a fugitive and with having her children taken away. At trial she testified that Skinner forced his way into her home and that he was physically capable of committing the murders. She later signed an affidavit saying he did not force his way in and that he was unable to stand on his own.

Alleged Political motive

Skinner had been something of an irritant to the district attorney’s office and to the sheriff’s office. He was an outspoken advocate of prisoner’s rights and had participated in inmate lawsuits, begginning after his conviction for assaulting a police officer. He had many interviews in the Pampa newspaper on the way the prior sheriff, Jimmy Free, treated inmates in the jail and violated their rights. He was previously arrested on a burglary charge, but by demanding a rare examining hearing, got the matter dropped before he could be indicted.

Skinner was convicted on March 18, 1994, and sentenced to death on March 23, 1995. A post-trial evidentiary hearing allegedly showed evidence of conflict of interests and incompetence of his defense attorney; and absence of DNA testing of evidence, amid other irregularities, have plagued the trial.

According to the defense team, the conviction of Skinner has been possible only through blatant manipulation of the crime scene, key witnesses and disregard for the physical evidence, which mostly is still untested today. Samples of blood and hair clutched in the victims' hands and tested after the trial were proven to belong to another person other than Skinner or the victims.

Appeals

In 2000, David Protess, professor of journalism at Northwestern University, and his students conducted two independent investigations of the case. Their request for the analysis of the full DNA evidence has not been granted, and similar motions introduced by the defense team have been rejected by Texas High Courts. Convinced of the innocence of Skinner, David Protess concluded that as long as motions for reviewing the case are rejected, nothing could be done. Appeals have been introduced to the Federal District Court, presided by Judge Mary Lou Robinson.

Skinner supporters have tried to revive the case through different strategies, listed on the legal documents of the official website. The first motion for DNA testing and the requests for appealability have been been introduced, without success.

On July 2, 2007, a Federal District Court Judgment denied the Certificate of Appealability which is requested for a new trial, this decision is currently on appeal with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

On July 27, 2007, the defense team has introduced a renewed motion for DNA testing, arguing that the reasons given to reject the first motion have now been voided by the same court. This renewed motion for DNA testing is now pending and, as of August 2008, Skinner is still on Death Row.

Skinner wrote regular reports from death row, 'News from the Hellhole"

On May 18, 2008, Judge Jerry E. Smith, of the Northern District of Texas finally has granted a certificate of appealability for Hank Skinner, "with regard to the claim of failure to make use of the blood spatter report and with regard to the claim of failure to discover and present Ellis’s testimony"

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