In its 6-3 opinion in Skinner v. Switzer, which involves a Texas death-row inmate seeking post-conviction DNA testing, the U.S. Supreme Court on March 7 reversed the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and remanded Henry “Hank” Skinner’s case to the U.S. District Court in Amarillo. Some prosecutors fear the decision will prompt additional inmate suits, a forecast some criminal-defense lawyers doubt.
In 1995, a 31st District Court jury in Gray County convicted Skinner and sentenced him to death for the 1993 murders of his girlfriend, Twila Jean Busby, and her adult sons, Elwin Caler and Randy Busby. Skinner’s appeals were unsuccessful, and in November 2009, he sued Lynn Switzer, district attorney for the 31st and 223rd Judicial Districts, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. [See "Death-Row Inmate Sues Prosecutor, Seeks DNA Test," Texas Lawyer , Dec. 7, 2009, page 1.]
