Having barely avoided execution late last year, convicted murderer Hank Skinner is finally getting the DNA test he first requested nearly a dozen years ago.

Skinner was found guilty in 1995 of killing his girlfriend, Twila Busby, and her two sons. He has contended for years that he was not responsible for the murders, which took place while he was passed out in Busby’s home.

Beginning in 2001, Skinner asked the courts to allow testing on crime scene evidence that was not analyzed at his trial, including a rape kit, biological material from Busby’s fingernails, sweat and hair from a man’s jacket, a bloody towel and knives.

His requests went unheeded.

Finally, the Texas Attorney General’s office last week filed an advisory with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals seeking to test DNA in the case.

Two days before Skinner’s scheduled execution on November 9, the Texas appellate court agreed to stay his death sentence until justices decided whether evidence from his case was eligible for genetic testing.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

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