Last spring, Henry “Hank” Skinner came within an hour of being executed by the State of Texas before SCOTUS agreed to take his case and stopped the execution.
On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed that Skinner had the right to sue a prosecutor who refuses to allow for DNA testing that the inmate believes might exonerate him.
David Kravets over at Wired’s Threat Level section has a good write up. Here’s how it begins:
The Supreme Court on Monday said inmates have a right to sue under a federal civil rights law to seek post-conviction DNA testing.
The 6-3 decision concerns condemned Texas inmate Henry Skinner, who was convicted of the 1993 murder of his girlfriend and her two sons. Skinner claimed breaches of his Fourth Amendment due process right and Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment because he hasn’t been allowed a post-conviction test of the DNA found at the crime scene.
The Texas state and federal courts — hearing Skinner’s habeas corpus pleas — refused to allow post-conviction testing of biological evidence, including blood, hair, fingernail clippings and vaginal swabs.
The courts held that, under Texas law, a convict must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he or she would not have been prosecuted or convicted had DNA testing been performed. To get DNA testing, a Texas inmate must also demonstrate that his failure to seek such testing at trial was not a strategic decision.
With nowhere else to turn, Skinner sued local prosecutors under a federal civil rights statute, and the Supreme Court halted Skinner’s execution last year to determine whether he could attempt to gain DNA access through that legal avenue.
At least 22 states had told the justices that granting Skinner DNA testing through a civil rights suit would undermine their individual statutes, which spell out when an inmate is entitled to it….
The Supremes didn’t guarantee that Skinner could have the DNA testing done. But granting the right to sue for it is an importing step.
Adam Liptak at the New York Times explains further.