Rick Perry is under the microscope as more than 100,000 people are calling on the Texas governor and GOP presidential candidate to halt the execution of a convicted murderer so he can be tested for possible exculpatory DNA evidence.
The signatures have been obtained by a campaign launched by grassroots website Change.org.
More than 85,000 people joined on Thursday alone after it was made public that a Texas judge denied Hank Skinner denied the DNA testing.
Skinner, 49, is scheduled to be put to death on Wednesday for the 1993 deaths of his girlfriend and her two sons.
“While Texas Gov. Rick Perry is on the campaign trail, Hank Skinner awaits execution on Nov. 9 for a crime he says he didn’t commit – a crime where evidence has gone untested for DNA for more than a decade,” said Gilles Denizot, who launched the campaign on Change.org.
“This is a mockery of justice,” he added.
Judge Steven R. Emmert did not explain his decision. Perry’s deputy press secretary, Lucy Nashed, would not comment on the case, referring all questions to the Texas Attorney General’s Office, saying “this is matter pending before the courts.”
In addition to the 120,000 supporters on Change.org, a group of current and former lawmakers, judges, cops and even an ex-governor in the Lone Star State have urged Perry to suspend the execution pending the test results, according to the Texas Tribune.
Skinner was convicted in 2005 of bludgeoning to death his 40-year-old girlfriend and her two adult sons. They were found strangled, beaten or stabbed on New Year’s Eve at their home in Pampa.
About three hours after the bodies were found, cops found Skinner hiding in the home of a woman he knew. Tests showed blood from at least two of the victims was on him.
But Skinner has always argued he was innocent. He claims that while he was inside the house when the killings took place, he was too inebriated from a mixture of vodka and codeine to commit the crimes.
The evidence Skinner wants to be tested, including two knives, was not tested at the time of his trial because his lawyers were concerned the results would hurt his case. But now his attorneys say the testing will likely confirm Skinner’s innocence.
Prosecutors say the calls for DNA testing is an attempt by Skinner to delay his execution.
With News Wire Services
