photo: Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice Henry "Hank" Skinner

Henry Skinner is on death row in Texas for the 1993 murder of his girlfriend and her two adult sons. Skinner has always maintained his innocence, even when he came within 47 minutes of being executed in March before the Supreme Court agreed to a stay of execution. In his trial the jury only deliberated for a period under two hours, and reportedly strongly based their decision on the testimony of Skinner’s neighbor and DNA evidence. However, not of all the DNA evidence collected was tested, including the hairs that were found grasped in a victim’s hand. After new tests, the hairs, and other DNA evidence did not match Skinner. More importantly, the star witness Andrea Reed, Skinner’s neighbor and ex-girlfriend, has recanted her testimony. Reed stated in the trial that she spoke with Skinner immediately following the murders, when he stopped her from the calling the police and made many incriminating statements about the murders. Reed now claims that the detectives and police frightened her into testifying false information, more about her false information can be seen in the article Hank Skinner Death Penalty Case . . ., Politics Daily. Leaving out all of the DNA evidence and not exposing the lies of the star witness Reed in the first case is a fault of Skinner’s Court Appointed Attorney. Perhaps now, before the Supreme Court Skinner will have a more skilled criminal defense attorney, something that could save his life.