Defense attorneys requesting extension to 21-day deadline.
Attorneys with the state Attorney General's Office and convicted murderer Hank Skinner's defense team say they have received copies of the court transcripts from Skinner's evidentiary hearing in Gray County on Feb. 3 and 4.
Receipt of the transcripts triggers a 21-day period for attorneys to file their findings from the witness testimony back to the 31st District Court.
Lauren Been, a spokeswoman for the AG's Office, said both sides are required to respond.
Skinner, who is on death row for the brutal murders of Pampa resident Twila Busby and her 2 adult sons on New Year's Day 1993, is being represented by attorneys Douglas Robinson and Robert Owen. If District Judge Steven Emmert rules favorably for Skinner, his attorneys could seek an appeal.
Emmert does not have a deadline to file his decision, but his bailiff, Wayne Carter, said the judge wants to move along quickly with the case.
A spokeswoman from Robinson and Owen's office in Washington D.C. said Thursday they are waiting for a few exhibits from the court and are requesting the court to extend the filing deadline to May 30.
Skinner was not at the hearing in which both sides presented evidence from a series of recent DNA tests.
Skinner's original attorney, Harold Comer of Pampa, did not seek DNA testing at the time of his original trial, partly out of his concern that the results would have implicated his client.
According to Skinner's attorneys, new DNA test results support the inference that Busby's uncle, Robert Donnell, who made sexual advances to Busby on the night of the killings, committed the crimes and not Skinner.
The AG's office maintains that DNA and crime scene evidence overwhelmingly point to Skinner as the killer.
Source: The Pampa News, April 11, 2014
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