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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