January 23, 2018 - DNA ISSUE

DNA ISSUE

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS JOINT ADVISORY JANUARY 23, 2018

AP-77,046 COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS Transmitted 1/23/2018 9:43 AM Accepted 1/30/2018 10:59 AM DEANA WILLIAMSON CLERK

No. AP-77,046 IN THE

FILED COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS 1/30/2018 DEANA WILLIAMSON, CLERK

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas HENRY WATKINS SKINNER, Appellant, v.

THE STATE OF TEXAS

On Appeal from the 31st Judicial District Court of Gray County, Texas JOINT ADVISORY Appellant was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1995, a conviction affirmed by this Court in 1997.

See generally

Skinner v. State, 956 S.W.2d 532 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997). The present proceeding concerns whether DNA test results, obtained pursuant to Chapter 64 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, are favorable to Appellant. See Skinner v. State, No. AP-77,046, 2016 WL 899097, at *1 (Tex. Crim. App. Mar. 9, 2016). Before a decision on that matter could be had, this Court determined that further fact-finding and analysis by the trial court might be in order. Id. at *8. Accordingly, the Court abated the appeal and remanded the case for the convicting court to make any

additional findings as necessary once reanalysis of the DNA test results was complete. Id. The parties thereafter jointly requested additional time to complete the necessary work, and this Court directed the creation of a factual record on the issue. Skinner v. State, No. AP-77,046, 2016 WL 3351308, at *2 (Tex. Crim. App. June 8, 2017). A record was produced at the trialcourt level and forwarded to the Court.

In May 2017, the Texas Department of Public Safety laboratory issued a report completing the reanalysis. Due to the complex schedules of counsel and their expert witnesses, as well as the need to provide extensive discovery material concerning the reanalysis and to afford time for both parties’ experts to review that material, it was not possible to schedule an art. 64.04 hearing in calendar 2017. The hearing instead was set to begin on January 9, 2018.

On January 9, the convicting court heard evidence.

At the

conclusion of the testimony, the convicting court ordered that the parties file proposed orders within thirty days of being provided with the Reporter’s Record of the hearing testimony.

2

PRAYER

The parties jointly advise the Court that the evidentiary hearing required under art. 64.04 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been completed, and that the parties will be filing proposed orders with the trial judge within 30 days of being provided with the Reporter’s Record of that proceeding.

Respectfully submitted, MATTHEW OTTOWAY Assistant Attorney General/ Assistant District Attorney Attorney for the State ROBERT C. OWEN DOUGLAS G. ROBINSON Attorneys for Appellant January 23, 2018