Monday, April 23, 2012

Hank Skinner Case


The Hank Skinner case is an interesting one to say the least.  The stay of execution issued last November by the Texas Court of Criminal appeals is just the latest in a series of near death experiences by inmate Hank Skinner in which a court had to issue a last minute stay.  With Hank’s actual guilty in doubt, the issue of justice looms large over this case.  To be clear, had Hank been executed a grave injustice would have occurred, but that is not the only level of justice at stake here.  Judging from the news links on blackboard as well as my own brief research it seems like there are serious questions about the fairness of the trial, the procedural/investigatory work done by law enforcement, the efficacy of the criminal defense, as well as problems concerning the interpretation of a Texas DNA testing law.  Taking all of these issues in to consideration it seems that justice may be best served by a full blown retrial, but that may be impossible due to legal procedural code as well as logistical issues.  That being the case, the state of Texas can at the very least thoroughly test the DNA and take that into consideration.  I understand that Skinner has failed to offer substantiation for his innocence, and it may very well be that the DNA evidence condemns Skinner to the electric chair, but that does not nullify the state’s responsibility to investigate and pursue justice to the fullest extent possible. In sum, the injustice of killing a potentially innocent man was averted on November 7, 2011, but injustice will still contaminate this case until the state reviews the case and fully exhausts the evidence and testimony collected. 
            To me, the dueling websites are perplexing.  They are both poorly run and use the same elementary lay out leading me to believe that the same person or persons are behind both.  I think they are a manifestation of people’s tendency to polarize issues rather than take a rational calculated review of the facts at hand.  Whether or not Hank committed the triple murder, I think the state has failed in its duty to give citizens a fair trial.  It is hard for me to understand why they are so against testing and analyzing the DNA. 
            In the media that I saw, I did not notice a particular bias either for or against Skinner.  The Texas Tribune seemed to a slight slant against Skinner, but not enough to undermine their reporting nor was it enough to make the paper sound like it was out to get Skinner.  The national reporting was probably the least biased, but in this case the media seems to be concerned with the facts and progress of the case rather than trying to vilify or patronize a particular side. 

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