Hank Skinner died

[Yong Fang]

Ok, for those of you who clicked this thread, "Who is Hank Skinner?"

Werner Herzog, the German filmmaker did a documentary series of about five different Texas death row inmates. They can be found on Youtube and they are quite interesting. This is where I met Hank Skinner. Skinner was a Texas death row inmate, in prison for the December 31, 1993 murder of his live in girlfriend, a one Twila Busby and her two young adult sons. Twila was beaten to death with an axe handle while the two sons were stabbed to death. One of the sons ran from the scene and died on the porch of a neighbor. The two other bodies were found in the house.

Skinner was on death row since 1995 and states that he did not kill the three people because he was passed out on the couch from an overdose of alcohol and codeine. He liked talking to media (and there are various interviews of him besides Herzog) where he professes his innocence. He professes than an uncle of Twila did the crime, killed the woman and her two sons but left Hank alive dead asleep on the sofa.

However this went down, Skinner ran to another girlfriend's house and hid there for several hours before the police caught up to him and arrested him. He had a injury to his hand, which is common for someone who stabs other people in a frenzy (usually the rapid motion causes connection of the hand to the blade).

Hank himself in all of his interviews professed his innocence, blames the crime on the uncle, claims there was a jacket the uncle wore that he took off which was lost by the State. He wanted and got some DNA evidence to prove it was not him. The uncle himself passed away. He seemed very adament but I believe a 100 percent he did it, but can believe that he was in a "black out" state because of intoxication and does not even remember it. Maybe.

Skinner was literally twenty minutes from death in the The Walls unit in Huntsville Texas, where he got a literal last minute stay. That is an interesting story in and of itself. It was interesting to hear his stories and more than likely his "excuses" of why he didnt do the crime he obviously did.

Skinner was actually married to a French woman who was a abolishionist of the death penalty who seemed to believe in his innocence. For whatever reason, Texas barred this woman from visiting him.

Hank was due to be executed September 13th, but died after brain surgery at a hospital in Galveston, Texas. I sort of believed that September 13th was going to be his execution date and would have been very interested to have heard his last statement.

For me, if I was guilty of this kind of crime, execute me. Do it, I will even drive the van (executions are held in another prison called Walls Unit, where the Death Row itself is at Polunsky Unit, about 40 miles away). The inmate on Death Row sits in his cell 23 hours a day, and if they are "good" are alotted a radio and a fan. Just the horrible boredom and monotony of sitting in that cell all day for years on end. It would be a living death. I'm dead already, let's get it over with.

I have wondered and would like to ask why the inmate is executed in a different prison and having to drive the inmate almost an hour to another prison to execute them. I have read other stories of other inmates like Hank who go all the way over there to get a last minute stay. The inmate is issued new clothes since it is a new prison. The inmate is fingerprinted (I guess to insure they have the right person there). It is about a five hour wait between arrival and execution and the inmate can make phone calls to anyone in the Continental United States.

I just find this oddly fascinating. Hank was obviously guilty (blackout or not) but kept professing his innocence and wonder if the almost thirty years he has been in that cell alone with his thoughts he truly believed he was innocent. Like I said, I wish he would have lived to his execution date to hear his last statement.

Watch the Herzog documentary on Youtube if interested. It was fascinating to me and have seen it several times. I have also seen interviews with other Texas death row inmates.

[Dude111]

Very sad

[Babalu]

It greatly offends me to 'humanize' the murderer more than the victim.

He should have been executed the next day rather than to leech off society for another 30 years.

[GentlemanJim]

Interesting story, thanks for sharing it. And yeah, if I actually killed someone over reasons that were non-justifiable, I think I would prefer execution over life imprisonment, even it there were opportunities for appeal.

But, at the same time, I know that some people are wrongly convicted...often enough that carte blanche sentiment arguing "hang them all high" is flawed logic.

Too many prosecutors value burnishing their conviction rates over and above finding justice
Too many jurors are swayed by their own emotion, and desire to deliver vengeance to a victim.
And too many people seek to solve puzzles by force fitting the pieces together
- - - for there to be any one-size-fits-all solution.

Putting myself in the position of being wrongly accused, I can see the (potential) peril

[stevea]

Originally Posted by Babalu

It greatly offends me to 'humanize' the murderer more than the victim.

He should have been executed the next day rather than to leech off society for another 30 years.

I was reading a Today in History the other day--it was probably about a murderer in the 1940s. He was hanged a month later.

Now THAT is the way to stop murders! Try-Convict-Execute.

[Babalu]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

Interesting story, thanks for sharing it. And yeah, if I actually killed someone over reasons that were non-justifiable, I think I would prefer execution over life imprisonment, even it there were opportunities for appeal.

But, at the same time, I know that some people are wrongly convicted...often enough that carte blanche sentiment arguing "hang them all high" is flawed logic.

Too many prosecutors value burnishing their conviction rates over and above finding justice
Too many jurors are swayed by their own emotion, and desire to deliver vengeance to a victim.
And too many people seek to solve puzzles by force fitting the pieces together
- - - for there to be any one-size-fits-all solution.

Putting myself in the position of being wrongly accused, I can see the (potential) peril

Justice is handled by humans. Nothing is perfect. It can't be. Is that your logic? Innocent people are sometimes convicted? So, if that's the logic no one will ever go to jail because nothing is 100%. Have a videotape? Maybe the tape was altered. You can think of a million excuses. Want no criminals in jail? This is what we have now in most major cities. Is that better? Is crime running rampant to insanity a good thing? Not in my book.

Are there truly hundreds or thousands of people on death row that are truly innocent? I'd bet anything not. Did a career criminal get convicted of something he didn't do when he got away with 50 other crimes? Big ****.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by Babalu

Are there truly hundreds or thousands of people on death row that are truly innocent? I'd bet anything not. Did a career criminal get convicted of something he didn't do when he got away with 50 other crimes? Big ****.

I agree that anyone machine gunning 70 year old men in their backs, and calling it "self defense" should be eradicated....

[EighthStreet]

Amazing that the state would pay for brain surgery on a man they had scheduled to put to death.