changeJustice: Execution set for 6pm CST tomorrow, Hank Skinner needs us now...Tell TX Governor to grant stay!http://cot.ag/bsEfCPPrisonReformMvt: Call to action! Demand a stay for#HankSkinner Gov Perry 512-463-1782 Fax: 512-463-1849 Main number: 512-463-2000thetrialwarrior: SPEAK OUT AGAINST INJUSTICE: Call Texas Gov. Perry 512-463-1782 and urge him to stay #HankSkinner's execution to allow a DNA test.
Messages bounced everywhere across the Twitterverse yesterday regarding the pending execution of Hank Skinner. Scarely an hour before the State of Texas was set to pump poison through Mr. Skinner's veins, the United States Supreme Court granted a stay of execution.
For an excellent analysis of the procedural history of Mr. Skinner's case, please see Houston criminal defense attorney Mark Bennett's blog post.
Back in Twitterville, tweeple were congratulating each other for their efforts in sparing Mr. Skinner's life (at least for now). However, social media had nothing to do with the Supremes' decision late yesterday afternoon. Moreover, the blow-dried one, Governor Rick Perry, ignored the deluge of phone calls, faxes, e-mails, and tweets. You see, there's nothing to be gained for Gov. Perry in delaying the execution. The votes of death penalty abolitionists and criminal defense attorneys aren't enough to make the governor think twice about allowing the murder of a man to go forward.
Perry has sabotaged (successfully to date) the work of the state forensic science commission in looking at the Cameron Willingham case. Perry's supporters don't care about due process and claims of actual innocence -- they want blood. And that blood is what will keep Perry on the public dole for another four years.
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