Texas man faces execution despite Innocence Project investigation
By Tom Meyer/Daily Northwestern
A Texas inmate is scheduled for execution Wednesday despite efforts by the Medill Innocence Project to force the state court to approve DNA testing that could clear him of the charges.
In 1995, Henry “Hank” Skinner was convicted of the 1993 rape and murder of his girlfriend, Twila Busby, along with the murders of her two adult sons, but has maintained his innocence ever since. In 2000, theMedill Innocence Project, which funds
Northwestern’s journalism class in investigating potential wrongful convictions, began looking into his case and advocating for further DNA testing.
David Protess, the founder and former director of the Medill Innocence Project, said unless an appeals court or Texas Gov. Rick Perry intervenes, Skinner will be executed.
“The problem is Texas is moving as fast as they can to execute,”Protess said. “That’s what’s so friggin’ outrageous here is that they’re trying to put to death a man who has a reasonable claim to moretesting.”
Read the full story at the Daily Northwestern website
