DNA Evidence Access Is Backed by U.S. High Court in Texas Death-Row Case
DNA Evidence Bid Supported in Supreme Court Ruling
The Supreme Court halted Henry Skinner's execution March 24, less than an hour before he was scheduled to die. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The Supreme Court halted Henry Skinner's execution March 24, less than an hour before he was scheduled to die. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The U.S. Supreme Court buttressed the ability of some convicted murderers to get access to DNA evidence, ruling in favor of a Texas death row inmate who says new testing of crime-scene material might exonerate him.
The justices, voting 6-3, today said Henry W. Skinner, convicted of the 1993 murders of his girlfriend and her two adult sons, can press ahead with a lawsuit that seeks access to genetic evidence in his case. The justices had halted Skinner’s execution while they considered his appeal.
The decision opens a new legal avenue for some convicted murderers seeking access to DNA evidence. The court said inmates can sue under a federal civil rights law if they claim they were unconstitutionally denied DNA testing in state courts.
Forty-seven states, including Texas, give convicted criminals the right in at least some circumstances to conduct post-trial DNA testing. More than 260 people have been exonerated after conviction through DNA evidence, according to the Innocence Project, which investigates cases and represents inmates.
The ruling doesn’t necessarily mean Skinner will get access to the evidence he is seeking. Writing for the majority, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said a lower court should consider other arguments by Texas officials in the case.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito dissented.
Holiday Murder
Twila Busby was choked and bludgeoned with an axe handle and Randolph Busby and Elwin Caler were stabbed to death in the home they shared with Skinner on New Year’s Eve 1993. Skinner, 48, says he had consumed so much alcohol and codeine that he couldn’t possibly have committed the crime.
Skinner is seeking DNA testing of seven sets of items, including vaginal swabs taken from Twila Busby, her fingernail clippings and two knives that were found at the house. His lawyers say his inability to get testing of those items shows the inadequacy of a 2001 Texas law that allowed post-conviction DNA testing in some circumstances.
Skinner is invoking a provision in federal law known as Section 1983, which lets individuals sue over violations of their constitutional rights by state or federal officials. A New Orleans-based federal court barred his lawsuit.
In 2009, the high court ruled that inmates don’t have a “freestanding right” to demand access to DNA evidence for testing. That ruling left open the possibility that inmates could use Section 1983 to seek DNA access when their rights haven’t been adequately protected by state procedures.
Nothing ‘Inevitable’
The latest case turned on whether the court viewed Skinner’s request as an attack on his long-since finalized conviction. The justices have previously said Section 1983 doesn’t authorize lawsuits that, if successful, would undermine a state-court conviction.
Ginsburg said DNA testing wouldn’t “necessarily imply” that his conviction was invalid.
“While test results might prove exculpatory, that outcome is hardly inevitable,” she wrote. “Results might prove inconclusive or they might further incriminate Skinner.”
Writing for the three dissenters, Thomas said the ruling “undercuts the restrictions Congress and this court have placed on federal review of state convictions.”
The Supreme Court halted Skinner’s execution March 24, issuing an order less than an hour before he was scheduled to die.
The case is Skinner v. Switzer, 09-9000.
To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net.
Rate this Page