Texas Death Row Inmate Wins Stay

Texas death row inmate Hank Skinner was set to be executed tomorrow, but won a second reprieve when the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals granted him a stay of execution yesterday. Skinner, 49, was convicted of killing his girlfriend and her two adult sons in 1993, but he has long affirmed his innocence and wants new DNA testing done. He had already been granted one last-minute stay last year.

The state of Texas has yet to conduct DNA testing on blood from the murder weapon and a jacket left at the crime scene, scrapings from victim Twila Busby’s fingernails, hairs she was holding, and a rape kit. The stay will allow more time to determine whether they will be, the Huffington Post reports. Busby’s family believes Skinner killed her, CNN adds, but they also want the testing done in order to end years of delay. Click for more on the case. (More death row stories.)