Thanks, I was just wondering.

Does anybody know what is listed on the Death Cert as the cause of death when a person is executed?

I guess the pictures are for the family album.

Guess what they are saying on PTO now...

Varga is a POS? 

I almost cried when I read this. 

Family of condemned man shares last full day


Death row inmate Kevin Varga didn’t get the reprieve he wanted, but he did get the forgiveness he needed from at least 1 person.

Varga's 20-year-old stepson, Stephen Smith of Rapid City, said he and his younger brother, Richard, aren't the same kind of victims as the family of David Logie, but their lives also were forever changed by the murder.

"I would never say I think of myself as a victim like the families of the people who were lost," Stephen said. "But we were definitely victims, because we lost our father. He left us up in South Dakota to do whatever he wanted to do. That's how I feel victimized."

On Tuesday, in what will almost certainly be Varga's last full day of life, his sons and his mother, Beth Varga, spent the day with their dad and son inside the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. That imposing structure of concrete and concertina wire sits about 5 miles outside of Livingston and holds the 319 men on death row. There, Stephen asked the only father he has ever known the question that haunted his childhood: "Why me and Richard weren’t enough for him?"

Why, he always wanted to know, did his father choose to leave his kids for a trip to Mexico that turned into a crime spree that David Logie robbed and beaten to death.

"I've finally forgiven him. That's the one thing I told him today -- that I've finally forgiven him for that," Stephen said. There was no answer, but the power of that forgiveness brought tears and a sense of peace to both father and son, he said.

"When you forgive them, you kind of get that piece back from them that they took from you," he said. "It was a relief on both our parts."

Kevin Varga lost his final appeals for clemency on Monday night, when the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole unanimously denied his attorney's plea for a commutation to a life sentence, as well as his request for a short reprieve to give Robin Norris time to explore other appellate issues. One member of the 7-member board voted in favor of a reprieve for Varga, leaving little official leeway for Gov. Rick Perry to make any last-minute stay of execution today.

After 10 years on death row, Varga will make the 40-mile trip from Livingston to the death chamber in Huntsville sometime after noon today. He will travel through countryside that looks remarkably like scenes from the George Clooney prison-break movie, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" It is lined with thick woodlands and dotted with Baptist churches as it crosses the impounded Trinity River that forms massive Lake Livingston.

Beth Varga will witness her son's execution today at 6 p.m., but Varga's sons will not attend. "If Kevin has 2 seconds of life left in him, they're my 2 seconds. He's my son," she said.

Richard Varga, 18, said the final hours he is spending with his dad have been filled with memories and family stories. "Everyone in my family is pretty good at hiding their emotions. In my family, everyone's got a big mouth and just won't shut up," he said. "To be honest, part of me just doesn't want to know what he’s feeling."

The family jokes that "We're not the Brady Bunch," but said they are "savoring" what little time they have left together.

"We just kind of reminisce about the good times that we did have, because we don't really have anything left other than that," Stephen said.

Stephen lives in Rapid City with his uncle, Sean Varga. He bears an uncanny facial resemblance to both his uncle and his father, despite having no biological connection to them, said Beth Varga. Stephen was 11 months old when Kevin Varga came into his life. "I'm here because these guys are all I have," Stephen said of Beth, Richard and Sean.

Richard has a baby face and a tough shell of detachment that comes with having a father on death row. Because he inherited his father's build, he also inherited the suit that Kevin Varga last wore at his sentencing for the robbery/murder of David Logie in 1998.

"I didn't hide it, but it didn't come up much," Richard said. "If people asked, I told them my dad was in prison."

Both young men kept in periodic contact with their dad while he has been on death row, but visits have been limited by long distances and lack of money. They spent the summer of 2002 living in Texas with their grandmother and visited regularly, but since their return to South Dakota, contact has been sporadic.

"Writing letters was hard. Too hard," said Stephen. He recently discovered his dad's death row blog and said he wasn't surprised by the reflection and writing he found there.

"I've always known Dad to be a smart man," he said.

Richard barely knew his father, who has been in prison most of his young life. He refuses to feel sorry for himself, he said.

"There's persons worse off than me. I know I'm not the 1st person to go through this," he said.

To cope with an absent father, Richard turned to a circle of friends in Sioux Falls.

"Because my dad did this, I have a way bigger family than I would have had otherwise," he said. "My best friends are my family."

Stephen and Richard have done stints at the South Dakota Department of Corrections youth facility in Custer. Both are unemployed, and both said they want to make better choices than their father did.

"I try to stay on the straight and narrow. I stray off some times. Grandma helps me a lot," Stephen said.

On Tuesday, Beth Varga drew her spiritual strength from Psalm 146. Like that scripture, which warns "do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save," she has put her faith in God. It goes on to promise that the "Lord sets prisoners free" and "sustains the fatherless."

Her son and grandsons will need both those promises today.

(source: Rapid City Journal)

Tator Tots is a Sonic thing. I can't remember ever getting them any place else. I guess billy and kevin must have stopped off while murdering through Texas.

Little Billy's buddies are not very happy with Varga. I found this posted today on an anto message board.

Paddy
Re: Paddy
Sat May 8, 2010 02:46
207.200.116.74http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?disc=219621;article=48572;title=Death%20Row%20News%20to%20fight%20the%20Death%20Penalty



I am VERY familiar with Billy's case, and he murdered NO ONE! I have known Billy since 2005 and not only have I read the trial transcripts but have also read the subsequent appeals! Billy will be executed because he refused to take the LIFE sentence that Texas offered to him and because he was sentenced under law of parties. Have you happened to notice that Kevin is "squaking" all over the internet about how innocent he is and on one hears a word from Billy??? That is because Billy Galloway is an HONEST guy who does not use manipulative tactics to gain attention! Why don't you go to something constructive with your life Timmie and quit antagonizing people on this site? It seems you have MUCH to much time on your hands!

For me it is hard to see some of the family members as victims when they say poor little Kevin is innocent or because his father was a POS he could not control him self. If they truly felt like victims too then look for true support or go to counseling. Then you will get my sympathy.

I found this from Beth Varga posted on an anti site.

Beth Varga
Re: Varga Sister's
Thu May 6, 2010 11:01
70.251.94.60


You and your sister are not my son's sisters. You have never even met him. You don;t know me. So why do you feel that it is your right to pass judgement on me or to in anyway interfer at a time like this? Please just mind your own bussiness. I;m sure that someone that leads such an exemplerly life has enough to do just caring for their own. May God Bless you.

http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?disc=219621;article=48489;title=Death%20Row%20News%20to%20fight%20the%20Death%20Penalty

I also found it interesting that ole hank did not address why he was hidding in the closet or why he and his ex-gal-pal did not call the police other than the fact that the phone did not work. I would think they could have gone to a neighbor and ask to use their phone. He also ingnors the large cut on his hand.

ole Hank is up-set and posted the following.

New Hell Hole News - #24
Best regards,
Hank

999143 Polunsky Unit
H W Hank Skinner
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston TX 77351-8580

http://www.hankskinner.org

April 10, 2010

More fun! It has been brought to my attention that some false and undocumented « adverse » allegations, about me and my case are currently circulating on the web. Ordinarily I ignore things like this but I want to expose these coward allegations, usually raised by the haters, so it provides me a unique and excellent opportunity to counter this once and for all. In the future, any of my supporters or others inquiring on these topics can be referred to this NHHN article and it will save me the time and effort of having to repeat myself.


1/ Henry Watkins “Hank” Skinner – the Hype

No, dummy, it’s the facts, sans hype.


2/ When one reads all the media-driven innocence hype about Hank Skinner, one can be instantly coerced into believing that Skinner is truly innocent of the ghastly murders of Twila Busby and her two mentally-impaired sons.

No one is coercing anyone. The facts speak loudly for themselves. Two the most prestigious innocence projects in America both say I’m likely innocent and the evidence that remains needs to be tested.


3/ After all, Skinner is a cause de celebre around the world – a poster boy for “justice denied”. How could he have possibly done what a jury convicted him of?

Needs no comment.


4/ Hank’s jailhouse “wife” (a French anti-death penalty activist in real life) and Hank have done a great job at putting together a website calling into question aspects of how Hank has been treated over the years. There was, according to Hank and Mrs. Hank, a massive criminal/judicial conspiracy involving the police, prosecutors, judges and even Hank’s original trial attorney.

Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner is not my “jailhouse wife” but my wife in every respect, legal and otherwise. We are legally married in both Texas and France. The President of France and his Foreign minister made a diplomatic entreaty to the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, on our behalf, asking Perry for a 30-day reprieve of execution and to conduct the DNA tests. That’s how legal our marriage is. I have our marriage license and certificate. I can produce it upon request to any who doubt me.

No one ever said there was any massive criminal conspiracy. I said, merely, the pigs didn’t like me for various reasons, there was animus against me and it provided them a motive to frame me, which they most certainly did. It was caused by small town, small minded authorities who possess exactly the same mindset as the person who authored this mess I’m now responding to. My trial attorney was an ex D.A. who’d previously prosecuted me.


5/ But the simple question remains: did Hank Skinner kill the Busby family?

No, I most certainly did not. The hairs ‘clutched’ in the victim’s (Twila’s) hand, sticking out from between her knuckles and caught under her ring, the D.A. says she pulled those hairs “from the head of her assailant during the struggle for her life, which she ultimately lost”. John Mann at first lied and said those hairs were mine. Subsequent DNA testing of the hairs at first produced a “mixed profile” alleged to contain my DNA. Further testing revealed this result was due to contamination in the wellplate caused by loading my standard sample too close to the evidentiary sample of Twila’s. Further testing proved that the blood flakes off the hair are solely Twila’s own blood and, subsequent mitochondrial testing of the hairs themselves are from an unknown male individual. I am absolutely and unequivocally excluded. See my letter 01/07/10 to D.A. Lynn Switzer and accompanying exhibits P2, P3 & P4 which are available on my website (legal documents section, DNA issue paragraph). It is beyond obvious that the person making these allegations is not at all well acquainted with the facts of the case but just hating and mud slinging.


6/ Was Skinner the murderer, or was it some faceless, nameless (or conveniently dead) person who poisoned Skinner with codeine (something to which Skinner was “deathly allergic”) before killing the family while Skinner slept?

See 5 above. He’s not faceless or nameless. We have his DNA profile! He’s not “conveniently dead”, just dead. In 1996/97 my investigator of that time confronted Twila’s uncle and told him he believed he was guilty. Bob Donnell had a confirmed incestuous relationship with Twila and probably killed her because of it. According to the state’s own witnesses Donnell had the means, motive, opportunity and animus to have committed the murders. The criminalist who viewed the jacket said it had medium velocity impact blood spatter on the cuffs and forearms of the sleeves meaning it was likely worn by the assailant. Only Twila had injuries which would cause impact spatter.


7/ In order for Skinner not to have been the killer, one has to ignore or dismiss an extraordinary set of events. Skinner would also have to be taken at his word on many of the events of New Year’s Eve, 1993.

This preface is a total lie. You don’t have to ignore or dismiss anything – this is truly “hype”. You don’t have to take my word for anything. That’s why the evidence and affidavits of scientific experts and forensic tests are so extensively presented on my website – like I say, it all speaks for itself but, you have to take time to read and review it, which this person obviously did not.


8/ Here are some of the things one would have to believe

Not true. See 9 and 12 below.


9/ some anonymous person spiked Skinner’s drink, before the murders, for whatever reason

No, they probably did not. I will not knowingly take codeine because it makes me sick. I’d not had any R’s for codeine. All my friends who’d been to our house that afternoon and evening knew I was allergic to codeine and that I avoided it studiously. I used to think someone must have poisoned me because I wouldn’t take codeine voluntarily.

A few years ago I learned that truth from a toxicologist who testified in another guy’s case, here. He says that once you reach a certain level of intoxication you go colorblind. Twila was always putting pills in her drink and sipping that one drink all evening. I later learned her girlfriend (G.S.) had given her 13 Fiorinal #4 codeine that she’d put in her drink. Twila and I had identical glasses but hers was Fuschia pink, mine was baby medium blue. I vaguely remember seeing the dregs of pills in the bottom of my cup and getting sick, passing out. I couldn’t figure out how it got into my cup. So I thought someone must have poisoned me. I think now I was just too messed up and colorblind to tell our cups apart anymore, I accidentally got Twila’s cup and drank from it, thinking it was my cup.


10/ A comatose Skinner “slept” through the murder (and possibly rape) of his beloved girlfriend, and the stabbing of her kids

I was comatose. I didn’t “sleep” through anything, I was out cold. Howard Mitchell, one of the two of the State’s star witnesses, testified that he came over to pick us up, I was out of it, he grabbed my arm and jerked on it until he pulled my torso off the couch but he got no response from me at all, even while screaming and hollering in my face “Come on Hank, Let’s go! Get up! Come on!” See the legal documents section, DNA issue paragraph, exhibit Q to my letter to Lynn Switzer on my website - Interview of Howard Mitchell by D.A.’s investigator.

My recitation of the facts and what I believe happened and why are presented just so I can tell the facts and how I believe they fit together, to give you the whole picture in a coherent fashion. But each item has a link to the evidence that backs it up, so you don’t need to take my word for anything. Review the evidence and let it speak to you of its own volition.


11/ Skinner could only to be roused by the girlfriend’s stabbed and mortally-wounded mentally-impaired son

“Skinner could only to be roused by”? That sentence makes no sense. “could only to be”? Well, Scooter got me off the couch over two and a half hours after Howard tried to and failed, he did so by sprinkling water in my face. He was mortally wounded. He helped me up to get dressed, we left the house together after checking on Randy and (Scooter) finding he was dead. Scooter and Randy were not “mentally impaired”, “mentally challenged” or “retarded”. Twila’s mother, Beverly, was a nursing home manager/administrator. She was a master at milking the federal system for $ to care for her wards at the old folks home. She employed the same tactics for Scooter and Randy. They were getting social security disability checks every month. Scooter was listed as mentally retarded and suffering muscular dystrophy; Randy as mentally retarded. Mann discovered this subterfuge of Beverly’s and decided to employ it for his own purposes. I was 5’9”, 145 lbs at the time. Scooter was 6’6”, 245 lbs. Randy was 6’1”, 180 lbs. There was no way any jury was going to believe I overpowered and killed Scooter and his mother in my condition at the time of the murders. So Mann turned them into “poor little retarded boys” and tried to get the Medical Examiner at autopsy to diminish their heights and weights. I don’t know how Randy was stabbed in his bed, either. I only know that’s supposedly where he was found according to the pigs. But the M.E. says both Randy and his mother’s bodies were moved prior to her in situ inspection.


12/ After this rousing, he managed to stumble around through the crime scene in a “stuporous” state, getting his handprint all over everything, and all the victim’s blood all over him

That’s not true. First, the person who wrote this garbage tries to paint in overly broad strokes and weakly implies some inculpatory evidence results from it. For example: “getting his handprints all over everything”. My handprints were never detected or identified as being “all over everything”, but I’m sure my prints were all over items in the house because (DUH) I lived there. Most importantly though, my fingerprints are not on any of the three murder weapons and it is not my print on a black plastic trash bag that contained one of the murder weapons. I am not linked forensically to the murders at all. More importantly still, I did not have “all the victims’ blood all over me”. Two stains were tested on my clothes and determined to be only contact stains. As the State’s own experts at trial explained, those stains proved only that I either came into contact with a victim at a time after they became bloody or, I came into contact with a surface upon which one of the victims deposited blood; again at a time after they became bloody. So you see, that evidence does not prove me guilty of anything at all but is totally consistent with my defense that I fell at the scene after getting off the couch, after the murders occurred, when leaving the house. Only Scooter and Twila’s DNA was on my shirt and pants, two spots. Randy’s blood/DNA was not on me at all. So again “all the victims’ blood all over him” is a blatant lie.


13/ Skinner’s website (hankskinner.org) spends page after page pushing out the testimony of a toxicologist who claimed that, because of the level of codeine and alcohol in Skinner’s system, Skinner would have been unable to commit the murders

I spend “page after page pushing out the testimony of a toxicologist” blah-blah-blah. Well, if this hater had read that “push-out”, he/she would know that toxicologist is a 27-year experienced FBI agent whose testimony was unrefuted and that the State’s own expert confirmed as correct his testimony, blood alcohol and blood codeine timeline profiles and his retrograde analysis as to how much alcohol/codeine was in my system and when I took it.


14/ But there is a big question: when did Skinner really take (or ingest) the drugs? 15/ A toxicology study can tell, given the level of drugs/alcohol in one’s blood at the time the study is performed, what the intoxication levels were between the time the drugs were taken and the time of the testing 16/ A toxicology study cannot tell when one actually ingested a substance. So we have to rely on Skinner to tell us when he ingested the codeine

That is a lie. No, again you do not have to rely on my word about when I took the codeine. This hater here just totally overlooks the evidence. The toxicologist, Dr Lowry, allows the State’s witnesses to tell him when I ingested the codeine and the evidence proves it unequivocally. Twila and I called Howard to come get us at 9:15 – 9:30pm and I was drunk but coherent. Howard got there 45 minutes later at 10:15pm and I would out cold, comatose, unrousable by any external stimuli. Dr Lowary knew alcohol alone would not have put me under that deep because he knew what my B.A.C. was at that time. Andrea testified that I did not consume any pills or drink, any alcohol while I was at her home. Once again, the State’s experts totally agreed with these findings so it’s not a matter in any dispute at all, despite what this hater would attempt to lead you to believe, otherwise. So, there is no question or dispute that I ingested the codeine before 10:00pm but after 9:15pm, before the murders, not after them.

Also there is no question of tolerance to codeine. First of all, I never took codeine, my Rx records clearly show I never had any Rx for it; so I could not have been tolerant of it. Secondly my condition at the time of the murders is described by the State’s two star witnesses, Andrea Reed and Howard Mitchell. See www.hankskinner.org (legal documents section, DNA issue paragraph) exhibits Q & R. Andrea’s recantation testimony is also available from the federal evidentiary hearing on my website. I’d urge you to read it in its entirety and especially view John Mann’s diatribe against her telling the truth at a previous grand jury proceeding where he openly threatens her and then later urges the court reporter not to record it – but he did, anyway.


17/ AHH, THE CODEINE – Skinner’s website says (in the 2nd paragraph) “Skinner was also subjected to a near lethal dose of codeine and passed out some time before 10:15pm…” The website goes on to drive home the point home about how “severely allergic” Skinner is to codeine.

View the blood codeine profile-timeline graphic display that was presented at trial. There is no question that I was subjected to a near lethal dose of codeine between .8 mg per liter and 1.35 mg per liter. View the affidavit of Dr Harold Kalant on my website. Dr Kalant is probably the world’s foremost recognized expert on this issue.


18/ See, if Skinner knowingly taken codeine that his allergy to which (again according to the website) had been documented in “his medical reports since the age of 19”, and made Skinner “deathly ill” one might tend to ask why he took it, right?

I accidentally ingested it. I wouldn’t have voluntarily or knowingly have taken the codeine. There is a range of intolerance to codeine. The lightest is, it makes you itch. Most people have that reaction to it. The worst if anaphylactic shock, which is a histamine reaction that can easily be very deadly. My level of intolerance is one step down from anaphylactic shock, termed moderately severe: extreme lethargy, vertigo, nausea and vomiting, colorblindness – every thing turns kodachrome shades of red and green tinted with black, difficulty breathing – my lungs feel like they’re full of cotton and my throat feels constricted; impaired balance and gait. When you add that on top of the vodka and Xanax I’d knowingly consumed that night, it is not easy to see why I’d be comatose and utterly incapable of committing these murders?


19/ So in order for Skinner’s story to work, somebody else would have had to have poisoned Skinner.

It’s not “Skinner’s story”. The evidence speaks for itself. No, somebody else probably had nothing to do with my being poisoned by codeine. See 9 above.


20/ So Skinner’s website says “… it is believed that (Skinner) was either accidentally or intentionally poisoned by the addition of the pills to his drinks (…) Hank was comatose during the commission of the murders…”

See 9 above.

 
[

The Innocence Project has exonerated over 220 people through DNA testing. I am curious to know how any of you can argue with THE FACT that 40 of those exonerations have come from death row IN TEXAS alone.

That's a lie. I'' leave it to someone else to link to all the studies exposing the so called dishonesty of DPIC and the phony exoneration. [/quote]

According to their own anti death penalty blog "Resurrection After Exoneration" they reference nationwide, 139 people sentenced to death since 1973 subsequently have been found innocent and released from death row, according to data provided by the Washington D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center.
http://www.r-a-e.org/press/death-row-exonerations-point-flaws-system

Another link to support this is http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/innocence.htm.

So here we have an anti death penalty site that contradicts The Innocents Projects fictional numbers. Go figure.

"Last chance to prove my innocence," Skinner tells
Medill student-reporters


By Gaby Fleischman and Emily Glazer
May 2, 2010
http://www.medillinnocenceproject.org/skinner_interview


LIVINGSTON, TEXAS – For the past five weeks, Henry “Hank” Skinner wakes up hoping to hear that the Supreme Court has taken his case, and given him a chance to leave Texas Death Row a free man.

On Monday, the Supreme Court is expected to make its decision. Since granting Skinner a stay of execution on March 24, there have been three delays.

“Every Monday morning I come out on pins and needles, about to have a stroke,” he said. “In a way you're relieved, but then I’ve gotta live the rest of this week wondering what’s gonna happen now.”

Skinner, who was convicted of a triple homicide in 1995, has been on Death Row for 15 years. Less than an hour before his scheduled execution, he was told the high court had spared his life – at least for the time being.

If the Supreme Court takes the case, it could lead to DNA testing of all the crime scene evidence. Much of the physical evidence in Skinner’s case has yet to be tested and could conclusively prove his guilt or innocence.

“I was trying to get the DNA tested because I really feel that’s my last chance to prove my innocence,” Skinner said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.

Skinner has always maintained his innocence. He was sentenced to death for the brutal murders of his live-in girlfriend, Twila Busby, and her two sons, Randy Busby and Elwin Caler. Skinner does not deny being present at the time of the murders, but says he was passed out from a combination of codeine, alcohol and anti-anxiety medication. According to toxicology reports, Skinner would have been in a near-comatose state. He was found several hours later at a neighbor's house, his clothing stained with blood from two of the victims. All of his appeals have been denied, leading him to ask the Supreme Court to review his case.

After the Court granted the stay of execution, Skinner and his legal team said they thought they would hear an update the following Monday, March 29. But Monday came and went without word from the nine justices.

Waiting for the Supreme Court decision has not been easy for Skinner. He compared the experience to a game of Russian Roulette.

“The first 20 or 30 times it would scare you, but after 20 years when someone does that to you…you’d just become so unaffected by it,” he said.

Doug Robinson, one of Skinner’s appellate lawyers, has also anxiously awaited the decision.

“The last two Mondays I sat at my computer just hitting the refresh button on the Supreme Court website waiting for that order list to come up,” he said.

Robinson said he does not think the decision will be a “plain old ordinary” denial of a writ of certiorari, the most common way the Court is asked to hear a case. (Last term, the justices denied 98% of all such writs.)

There are many possibilities, but Robinson said it’s probable there could be a denial of certiorari with a dissent, which means the Supreme Court would not take the case over the written objection of one or more of the justices.

Another possibility is a summary judgment where the Court orders a hearing on the DNA evidence in the federal district court. Down the road, this could turn into a suit based on federal civil rights law, Robinson hopes.

“If we’re successful, it would provide a means by which a lot of other prisoners in Hank’s situation could get DNA testing,” he said.

Skinner’s legal team has been unsuccessfully pushing for complete DNA testing for the last decade.

The current Gray County District Attorney, Lynn Switzer, has repeatedly refused to release the biological evidence for DNA testing.

“It's already been handled,” Gray County District Attorney Lynn Switzer told the Texas Tribune on March 30. Switzer is the third district attorney in Pampa involved with the Skinner case, but she is the one being sued to release the DNA evidence.

“He doesn't need to keep trying it over and over and over again. It's already been handled.”

In legal documents opposing the DNA testing, lawyers for Switzer have contended there was sufficient evidence to convict Skinner without additional DNA testing and that Skinner waived his rights to new tests when he didn't request them before his trial.

Harold Comer, Skinner’s attorney at the time, did not respond to repeated interview requests.

Some evidence that was tested did not match Skinner, including a head hair found in Twila’s hand and blood found on the sidewalk in front of the home. The majority of the evidence found at the crime scene, including the murder weapons, the rape kit, skin cells under Twila’s fingernails, and a windbreaker found next to her body, have still not been tested. The blood-stained windbreaker was similar to one worn by an alternative suspect in the case -- a man who witnesses saw stalking Twila shortly before the murders.

Skinner said the untested evidence could prove his innocence and unveil the imperfections of the justice system.

“Citizens think in terms of us and them. If you’re one of us, you’re one of the good guys and if you’re one of them, you’re one of bad guys,” Skinner said. “So this evidence…proves that I’m not one of them, I’m still one of us. And if it could happen to me, it could happen to you, your sister, your brother, your son, your daddy.”

Skinner’s two daughters, Kristen Keaton and Natalie Skinner, said they pray the Supreme Court will make the “right” decision. Kristen and Natalie were re-united with their father the day before his scheduled execution.

“I wanted the glass out of the way," Natalie said. "I wanted to be home across the kitchen table or anywhere but where we were…the setting was not proper for the feelings."

Despite the circumstances, just seeing his daughters was life changing for Skinner.

“When my daughters came back into my life, I had a renewed reason to live because of them,” he said.

But for now, like Skinner, his daughters can only wait.

“I’m scared for him,” Kristen said. “I’m scared for him more if he doesn’t get justice, if he doesn’t get a fair shake at this.”

Robinson, Skinner's attorney, said when you’re dealing with a person’s life all the evidence should be tested.

“It should not be the law in this country that it’s possible to execute someone when there is troubling evidence as to their guilt or innocence, and there’s still some uncertainty about it,” he said.

But for now, Skinner’s fate is out of his hands and with the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday.

“I gotta deal with whatever happens and I don’t know what’s gonna happen,” he said. “You just have to try and pull yourself together with every fiber you got and hold on to your sanity.”

I noticed Jodi has deleted most of her posting yesterday. I wonder what triggered that.

“They make a murder look very easy,” said Houston anti-capital punishment activist Gloria Rubac, who was among Bustamante's friends. “They've gotten very good at it.”

Are you kidding me? REALLY? I would love to meet G L O R I A in a dark ally!

She has it all wrong, the State of Texas does not murder let's be very clear about that! It was Fat Boy who made murder look easy.