CHICAGO - A Texas man scheduled for execution Nov. 9 is hoping a new state law will help save his life.

Lawyers for Hank Skinner say they've been fighting for a decade to persuade courts to allow DNA analysis of key pieces of previously untested evidence, which could prove he was wrongly convicted of a triple homicide in 1993. Lawmakers cited the Skinner case this year as one of the reasons to remove some of the procedural barriers to testing evidence after convictions.

Skinner attorney Rob Owen says the new legislation is the basis for asking state and federal courts to reconsider past objections.

"This opens the door for us to say to the courts, ‘The provision of the law that you said keeps us from getting DNA testing has been removed for the specific purpose of affecting this case.’ "

The new law was mentioned in a letter from 17 current and former lawmakers, judges and prosecutors, sent Thursday to Gov. Rick Perry, Atty. Gen. Greg Abbott and the district attorney in charge of the case. The letter says the state should "ensure certainty" before carrying out the "irreversible step" of execution.

Prosecutors have said Skinner is just trying to delay his death, and that the new testing law doesn't apply to his case. Owen, a visiting clinical professor at Northwestern Law School, says he can't imagine why anyone would be against learning the truth.

"Common sense would dictate that you'd do the DNA testing, since it can bring us closer to certainty about what happened. Why the DA would not want to remove these doubts is a mystery to me."

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Skinner had a right to sue the district attorney in federal court to ask for untested evidence. In an earlier decision, the court indicated that, in most cases, convicted prisoners seeking DNA testing should do so in state courts.

If the courts refuse to intervene, public opinion could help sway other decision makers such as the governor, according to Owen, who acknowledges that the majority of Texans favor the death penalty...

"But Texans are also motivated by a very powerful sense of fundamental justice, and they want to make sure that somebody is guilty before you give them the ultimate punishment."

Owen points to surveys showing 85 percent of Texans believe inmates should have broad access to DNA testing if it possibly could exonerate them.

The letter is online at standdown.typepad.com.




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A package to improve public safety is moving ahead in the California state Legislature - with a floor vote in the State Assembly on the first bill expected this week.

Assembly Bill 2215 puts into statute that police officers have the discretion to send people arrested for low-level offenses directly to supportive services.

Anthony DiMartino - government affairs director with the nonprofit Californians for Safety and Justice - said sometimes public safety is best served when people avoid arrest and instead get therapy, addiction support or help getting a job.

"We're also hoping to raise awareness that this is something officers can do, and then also encourage partnerships more with officers to look at what's in their community," said DiMartino, "as alternatives to jail booking."

A second bill would increase transparency and accountability on money sent to the counties as part of the Public Safety Realignment.

A third bill would require police officers, prosecuting attorneys and investigators to identify themselves any time they're interviewing a family member of someone killed or severely injured by police.

DiMartino said they also support AB 2499, which would ensure that survivors of violent crime and their family members can take unpaid time off work to address safety concerns and heal.

"We're hoping to broaden the scope a bit," said DiMartino, "and make it more clear that family members of victims are able to also tap into unpaid leave to support their family member that has been a victim."

A fifth bill would make it easier for justice-involved people and crime victims to speak freely during restorative justice programs - by making the communications inadmissible in other legal proceedings.

Missouri went through with its first execution of the year, as Brian Dorsey was put to death last night, just after 6 p.m. CT.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to stop Dorsey's execution. He was convicted of murdering his cousin Sarah Bonnie and her husband Ben nearly 20 years ago.

The advocacy group Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty launched several recent campaigns on Dorsey's behalf to spare his life.

Jenni Gerhauser, a cousin to both Dorsey and Sarah Bonnie, expressed belief in his redemption.

"Brian is more than the worst moment of his life," Gerhauser stressed. "There is so much more to him."

Gerhauser fondly remembered him as fun and charming from their visits during holidays. Dorsey's current lawyers said he was in a drug-induced psychosis when he killed the Bonnies in 2006 and his attorneys at the time had been offered money, preventing them from fighting the death penalty with his guilty plea deal.

Gov. Mike Parson confirmed Monday the state would move forward with Dorsey's death sentence, rejecting a separate request for clemency. More than 70 current and former corrections officers had urged the governor to commute Dorsey's sentence, arguing he had been rehabilitated.

Claudia Boyce, also a cousin in the family, said it should not be a decision for the state to make.

"You know, that's supposed to be God's decision, not ours," Boyce contended.

Dorsey received a lethal injection Tuesday evening. Lethal injection became an option for people on Missouri's death row in 1987, alongside lethal gas.


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Amid overcrowding and unsafe conditions in West Virginia jails, state lawmakers introduced bills that would allow judges to take a 'second look' at an individual's original sentence.

If a court determines they no longer pose a threat to the community, the person could be released, placed on supervision, or receive a shortened sentence.

Sara Whitaker - criminal legal policy analyst with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy - said West Virginia is one of the few states that has seen its prison population balloon over the past decade, despite declining crime.

She noted that as of last month, more than 500 people in the state were in jail awaiting transfer to a prison.

"As a result, eight out of 10 of the regional jails in the state were beyond capacity," said Whitaker, "with hundreds of people assigned to sleeping on the floor."

The bills failed to advance this session, but Whitaker said advocates are hopeful lawmakers will consider them next year.

The state's jails remain among the deadliest in the country, with at least 91 people losing their lives while incarcerated in the past few years.

According to the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, jail bills cost counties $45 million in 2022.

Nationwide, long sentences have led to growth in the number of older people behind bars.

Whitaker pointed out that 'Second Look' legislation could help the state avoid turning its prisons into nursing homes, and said the number of elderly people in prison has tripled in the past two decades.

"In 2019, West Virginia had to open a dementia unit in one of its prisons," said Whitaker. "There are hospice units across multiple prisons. And experts predict that this is just only going to get worse."

Whitaker added that 'Second Look' policies also offer a way to correct past racial injustice in the criminal legal system.

Black people incarcerated in West Virginia are four times more likely than white people to be serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole, and five times as likely to be serving a life-without-parole sentence.




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