We’ve posted about the case of Texas Death Row Hank Skinner before: his case is now before the United States Supreme Court, where the High Court is considering if Skinner has a legal right to pursue a case in the civil system, in order to test evidence that was not tested at his criminal trial.

Hank Skinner asserts that DNA evidence left in unknown person’s blood stains on a jacket left at the murder scene, as well as on a kitchen knife, has never been tested — and that since he is innocent, that untested blood should substantiate his continued assertion that he is innocent of the murders for which the State of Texas wants him executed.

However, it’s not often that members of the public get a chance to hear and watch a person living on any Death Row.  These folk are segregated from the public early on – probably soon after their arrest – and it’s easy to turn them into two-dimensional villians on paper.

Hank Skinner is a real, living person who has spent the last 17 years behind bars, proclaiming his innocence. Hank Skinner is a human being asking for lab tests to be done.  Period.  Is he so unreasonable in this request?