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death penalty DNA testing execution forensic science Governor Rick Perry Hank Skinner legislation Mark White Sam Millsap Texas

Elected Officials, Former Judges, Prosecutors and Law Enforcement Officers Call for DNA Testing for Hank Skinner

Today, former judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers, along with current and former elected officials from Texas, delivered a letter to state officials calling on them not to execute Mr. Skinner until that DNA testing can be performed. The letter was sent to Governor Rick Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott and Gray County District Attorney Lynn Switzer.

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death penalty forensic science incompetency intellectual disabilities Texas

More on Discredited Expert Testimony

Over the weekend, the Houston Chronicle published an editorial  calling for a review of the cases involving death row inmates who were evaluated for evidence of mental retardation by psychologist […]

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death penalty forensic science incompetency intellectual disabilities Texas

Texas Psychologist Banned from Criminal Cases

Last week, the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists reprimanded psychologist George Denkowski for his unscientific testing methods in evaluating whether certain defendants in capital murder cases were intellectually […]

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Cameron Todd Willingham criminal justice flaws death penalty death sentences district attorney executed exoneration forensic science innocence Innocence Project innocent judiciary Mark White New Yorker Magazine Posthumous Pardon Texas Forensic Science Commission trials Wrongfully Convicted

Court of Inquiry Ruling Postponed

On October 14, 2010, State District Judge Charlie Baird convened a court of inquiry into whether Cameron Todd Willingham was wrongfully executed and whether or not state officials committed a crime in how they handled his case prior to the execution.

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Cameron Todd Willingham forensic science Texas Forensic Science Commission wrongful execution

Final Judgment Expected from Forensic Science Commission in Willingham Case

Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey offers his perspective on this Friday’s meeting of the Texas Forensic Science Commission (“Forensic revolt again is in order,” September 12, 2010), when the commission […]

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Cameron Todd Willingham forensic science Texas Texas Forensic Science Commission

Former Chair of TX Forensic Science Commission: Willingham Investigation Must Go Farther

Austin attorney Samuel Bassett, who served as chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission until his abrupt dismissal last fall, has called on his former colleagues to go farther in […]

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civil rights law execution forensic science habeas law Hank Skinner reprieve U.S. Supreme Court

News Coverage of Supreme Court Stay of Hank Skinner’s Execution

An hour before he was sentenced to die yesterday, Hank Skinner received a stay of execution by the U.S. Supreme Court. The stay was a temporary halting of the execution […]

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DNA testing exoneration forensic science Hank Skinner U.S. Supreme Court

Larry King Live Coverage of Hank Skinner

On Wednesday, March 24, 2010, three hours after Hank Skinner received a stay of execution by the United States Supreme Court, Larry King Live featured the Skinner trial on the […]