Defrosting Cold Cases

According to the website of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Henry Skinner is set to be executed Nov. 9, 2011. In March of this year, the justices ruled that Skinner had the right to sue a Texas district attorney under a federal civil rights law for refusing to allow him access to evidence for [...]

Tags: Capital Punishment, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Finger Printing, Forensics, Henry Skinner, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rape kits, Texas, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

Justice Ginsburg, writing for the majority, said prison inmates may use a federal civil rights law to seek DNA testing that was not performed before their conviction. Lower federal courts had dismissed Skinner’s claims at an early stage, although other federal judges have allowed similar lawsuits to go forward in other parts of the country. [...]

Tags: Capital Punishment, Crime Scene, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Forensics, Henry Skinner, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rape kits, Texas, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

I raise my glass to possibilities! We have an exciting year ahead of us. For the first time in history, the Zeigler case will be open to students from Penn State CSI and I look forward to hearing their discussions. This collaboration between Penn State CSI, Defrosting Cold Cases, and the Zeigler legal defense team is exclusive [...]

Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham, Henry Skinner, Mike Silcock, PennState University, Richard A. Lapointe, William Thomas Zeigler

Sundeep Bhatia’s observation is one I agree with: “But the request to test the DNA evidence is not really about the conviction or sentence. It’s about the evidence and the possibility that it may shed some light on who the real killer is. Skinner hopes it is exculpatory. But it may be inculpatory. Skinner doesn’t [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Capital Punishment, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Forensics, Henry Skinner, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rape kits, Texas, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Capital Punishment, Crime Scene, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Forensics, Henry Skinner, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rape kits, Texas, Victim, Wrongful Convictions

In my post “DNA: a civil right” of March 26, 2010, I described why I firmly believe that (post-conviction) access to DNA testing for the condemned (in this case Henry Skinner) should not hinge on how formalistic the question to the courts is phrased. It should be implied. Today, the New York Times published an editorial [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Capital Punishment, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Forensics, Henry Skinner, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rape kits, Texas, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

Via SCOTUS Blog: “At yesterday’s oral argument in Skinner v. Switzer, the Court seemed dogged by reality.  In the real world, numerous questions have been raised about the actual innocence of petitioner Henry W. Skinner.  This is why Skinner seeks access to DNA evidence, and it may even be why the Court stayed his execution [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Arson Detection, Autopsy, Capital Punishment, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, FBI, Finger Printing, Forensics, Henry Skinner, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rape kits, Texas, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

Attorneys are presenting oral arguments today before the justices in the case, in which Hank Skinner faces death by lethal injection.  The case once again inserts the Supreme Court into the debate over capital punishment by asking the nine justices to decide whether Skinner has a right to forensic tests that could clear his name. Texas has [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Capital Punishment, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Forensics, Henry Skinner, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rape kits, Texas, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

From the SCOTUS Blog by Mary A. Fisher:  Special feature: Texas death row DNA case: On Wednesday, October 13, the Court will hear oral arguments in Skinner v. Switzer. This post is uploaded in three parts. Part I can be read here. An excerp: “There is plenty of biological evidence left to test from the grisly [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Capital Punishment, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Death Row, DNA, DNA Database, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, FBI, Forensics, Henry Skinner, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rape kits, Texas, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

If they knew then what we know now…read about the thoughts and feelings of the original Skinner jury! “In light of new developments that have surfaced in the 15 years since Skinner’s trial, several of the original jurors are no longer sure of his guilt. Five say they might have had reasonable doubt at the [...]

Tags: Autopsy, Capital Punishment, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Death Row, DNA, DNA Database, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Finger Printing, Forensics, Henry Skinner, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rape kits, Texas, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions