The Supreme Court’s “11th hour” stay of execution issued Wednesday evening for a Texas death row inmate may give the justices another chance to revisit a key DNA testing question left unanswered last term.
The justices unanimously granted the delay one hour before Henry Skinner was scheduled to die for the 1993 murders of his girlfriend and her two adult sons. Skinner, who claims he is innocent, has sought DNA testing of bloody knives, material beneath the dead woman’s fingernails, rape kit samples and other items found at the murder scene. The Court’s order (pdf) will remain in effect until the justices act on Skinner’s petition for certiorari.
