Latest / Wrongful Conviction / #351 Maggie Freleng with Hank Skinner

Transcript

#351 Maggie Freleng with Hank Skinner · Wrongful Conviction

0:02
Speaker 1: This is Maggie Freeling. Today we're revisiting an episode from
0:05
Speaker 1: season one that's very close to my heart. When I
0:09
Speaker 1: visited Hank Skinner last year at the Polunsky death Row
0:13
Speaker 1: unit in Livingston, Texas, I was nervous. Hank and I
0:17
Speaker 1: had been in touch for a few years, but only
0:19
Speaker 1: through letters. He was not permitted to use phones on
0:22
Speaker 1: death Row. We once had a tense exchange of letters
0:26
Speaker 1: when Hank misinterpreted something I said, and it kind of
0:29
Speaker 1: put me on edge talking to him. So I was
0:32
Speaker 1: super nervous to go down there. But as soon as
0:35
Speaker 1: Hank was brought out and sat down, he said to me,
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Speaker 1: if I knew this is what you looked like, I
0:40
Speaker 1: would have been more open with you. And then we
0:43
Speaker 1: were both just at ease. And I think what he
0:45
Speaker 1: meant was because I look like him with tattoos and
0:50
Speaker 1: just jeans and a T shirt, that he felt like
0:53
Speaker 1: I was like him and not just a suit that
0:55
Speaker 1: was coming in to tell his story and then leave.
0:59
Speaker 1: So I left that interaction with Hank elated about meeting him,
1:04
Speaker 1: the trust we had built, and really hopeful for his future. Unfortunately,
1:10
Speaker 1: that would be the last time I spoke with Hank.
1:13
Speaker 1: Hank died this past February at the Prison Hospital in Galveston,
1:18
Speaker 1: with his wife, Sandrine at his side, and in the end,
1:21
Speaker 1: it wasn't the state that killed him, but complications following
1:25
Speaker 1: surgery for an aggressive brain tumor. And despite his illness,
1:30
Speaker 1: Hank staunchly continued to maintain his innocence and to fight
1:34
Speaker 1: for exoneration with the tireless help and support of Sandrine
1:39
Speaker 1: and his attorneys. Hank's dedication to the truth and the
1:43
Speaker 1: face of massive injustice has inspired us all, and so
1:48
Speaker 1: to honor his memory, we'd like to share his story
1:51
Speaker 1: with you again. On December thirty first, nineteen ninety three,
2:01
Speaker 1: thirty one year old Hank Skinner was pregaming for a
2:04
Speaker 1: New Year's Eve party. He was with his girlfriend of
2:07
Speaker 1: seven months, forty one year old Twila Busby, and her
2:10
Speaker 1: two adult children, Scooter and Randy. Hank passed out before
2:15
Speaker 1: ten PM from a potent combination of vodka, codine, and xanax.
2:20
Speaker 1: Despite his condition, Twyla left for the party without him.
2:24
Speaker 1: When she returned, she was strangled and bludgeoned to death.
2:27
Speaker 1: Her two sons were stabbed to death. Hank was the
2:31
Speaker 1: sole survivor and was instantly the prime suspect, despite evidence
2:36
Speaker 1: that Hank was incapable of committing these murders and that
2:39
Speaker 1: another more probable person of interest exists. Hank has spent
2:43
Speaker 1: nearly thirty years on Texas death row awaiting execution.
2:49
Speaker 2: And they've tried to kill me five times, so I
2:54
Speaker 2: believe that they were serious about that.
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Speaker 3: But I think with the evidence.
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Speaker 2: We have now that there's no way they're going to
3:03
Speaker 2: have to let me go, and they're going to have
3:05
Speaker 2: to acknowledge that I'm innocent. I don't see any other way.
3:11
Speaker 1: From love for good. This is roumful conviction with Maggie
3:14
Speaker 1: Freeling today. Hank Skinner. Hank Skinner was born on April fourth,
3:32
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty two. He's the oldest of four kids.
3:36
Speaker 3: I'm from Virginia, Okay.
3:38
Speaker 2: I was born in the foothills of the Blue Ridge
3:40
Speaker 2: Mountains in Franklin County, Virginia, which is the moonshine capital
3:45
Speaker 2: of the United States.
3:47
Speaker 1: His dad was part of the local industry. He was
3:49
Speaker 1: a foreign car mechanic as well as a moonshiner.
3:52
Speaker 3: See.
3:52
Speaker 2: He had three eight hundred gallons steam steels and fired
3:56
Speaker 2: on butane.
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Speaker 3: He made the best sugar looker you've ever drank, and
4:01
Speaker 3: see moonshine.
4:02
Speaker 2: If it's made correctly, it's a lot better than store
4:05
Speaker 2: bought liquor. And so my dad's stuff burned clear, and
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Speaker 2: I mean it was about one hundred and forty proof.
4:11
Speaker 2: You can just get a four ounce glass to do
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Speaker 2: ice cubes and sip.
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Speaker 3: On it off.
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Speaker 4: So did you just grew up drinking moonshine?
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Speaker 3: Yeah? Sure.
4:19
Speaker 4: When was the first time you drank it?
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Speaker 3: Six years old? I stole it from my dad.
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Speaker 1: Growing up, Hank felt like he had the best parents
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Speaker 1: in the world. He takes pride that he was named
4:33
Speaker 1: after his dad.
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Speaker 2: I'm actually a junior, but when my dad passed, I
4:38
Speaker 2: took his name and so now I'm just Henry Skinner.
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Speaker 3: Hank Skinner. Hank is a nickname for Henry.
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Speaker 2: He loved Hank Williams Senior, and I love Hank Williams
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Speaker 2: Junior and Hank the third.
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Speaker 4: I love them all.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, out the same way.
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Speaker 1: Hank learned a lot from his dad.
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Speaker 2: Like my dad, he taught me how to slaughter hogs
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Speaker 2: and slaughter cattle.
5:00
Speaker 1: Worked for his dad too young. Hank was a skilled
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Speaker 1: laborer and free spirit.
5:04
Speaker 2: We were just a bunch of wild, rambunctious kids having
5:07
Speaker 2: a good time. We had field cake parties and cow pastors.
5:12
Speaker 2: There was bikers up there everywhere. That's who I grew
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Speaker 2: up with.
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Speaker 1: But Hank also had a soft spot for the female
5:19
Speaker 1: role models in his life. Like his mom and grandma,
5:22
Speaker 1: Hank grew up learning a lot from them, including how
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Speaker 1: to respect women.
5:29
Speaker 2: If you want to find out anything in life that
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Speaker 2: really means something, find out from a woman. They know
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Speaker 2: how to do everything, and so I can sew, I
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Speaker 2: can alter clothes. I used to make dresses for my
5:42
Speaker 2: little sister on my mama sewing machine. I made quilts.
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Speaker 2: I know how to do everything. I know how to
5:48
Speaker 2: can vegetables, you know, out of the garden. We used
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Speaker 2: to do this every year. Where the women aren't the shit.
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Speaker 2: That's all there is to it, you know what I mean.
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Speaker 1: Hank also learned a lot about women after he married
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Speaker 1: quite young.
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Speaker 2: I was nineteen, My wife was sixteen, and we had
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Speaker 2: just gotten married because she was already pregnant.
6:10
Speaker 3: I had a daughter, Natalie Joe. I was so in
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Speaker 3: love with her when she was born.
6:15
Speaker 1: Natalie Joe was the light of Hank's life, but Hank's
6:19
Speaker 1: marriage to Natalie, Joe's mother was another story. He and
6:22
Speaker 1: his wife struggled to get along. According to Hank, she
6:25
Speaker 1: had substance abuse issues.
6:27
Speaker 2: She was strung out on cocaine. Well, he had a
6:30
Speaker 2: big argument to fight going on all the time.
6:33
Speaker 3: And so my daughter stayed with her mother.
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Speaker 2: That was the only thing that was acceptable to her.
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Speaker 2: My mama wanted her, but she wouldn't let my mama
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Speaker 2: have her.
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Speaker 3: And so my.
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Speaker 2: Wife was doing crazy things when we divorce, so I
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Speaker 2: just said, fuck this, I'm done.
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Speaker 3: I left and I went first to Georgia.
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Speaker 1: There in Georgia, Hank worked at a casino who's high
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Speaker 1: earning customers were key or two by women.
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Speaker 2: And these are gamblers and they're high rollers, and so
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Speaker 2: they want woman on their arm.
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Speaker 1: You know, Hank took it upon himself to look out
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Speaker 1: for these.
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Speaker 2: Women if they get two hands yet, like you know,
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Speaker 2: I'm the guy who steps in and tells them now, no, no,
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Speaker 2: you know it can't.
7:16
Speaker 3: Be doing that.
7:18
Speaker 2: And so have you ever seen that movie Roadhouse with
7:20
Speaker 2: Patrick Swayze, Because that's what I did.
7:23
Speaker 3: I was a cooler just like he was in that movie,
7:26
Speaker 3: but not.
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Speaker 2: In a bar in the gambling establishment, And so I
7:30
Speaker 2: lived in an old, old ramshackle rooming house that had
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Speaker 2: three stories and had big stucco porch on the top.
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Speaker 3: And so I could sit up there and drink beer
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Speaker 3: and smoke weed and watch all the cars go by
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Speaker 3: and holler at the girls. I was the rooster of
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Speaker 3: the hymn house.
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Speaker 1: I had it all in his mind. Hank was living
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Speaker 1: the life.
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Speaker 4: So how'd you wind up in Texas?
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Speaker 2: So when I came out here, I came out here
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Speaker 2: because I wanted to break out in the oil field,
7:56
Speaker 2: because I heard about the oil field.
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Speaker 3: It was a good place to make money. I did.
8:00
Speaker 3: I made a lot of money out here. I ended
8:03
Speaker 3: up moving to Papa. That's an old filled town.
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Speaker 1: And Pampa Hank found kindred spirits in the lifestyle he enjoyed,
8:11
Speaker 1: but soon he was charged and convicted for unauthorized use
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Speaker 1: of a motor vehicle and was on parole. He started
8:17
Speaker 1: going to AA as part of his parole, and that's
8:20
Speaker 1: where he met Tila Busby.
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Speaker 2: These two guys were picking on her, and so I
8:26
Speaker 2: dried up her tears and I talked to her and
8:28
Speaker 2: got her all right.
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Speaker 3: She was just they were just drilling. I mean, the
8:34
Speaker 3: way they were, mister.
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Speaker 4: What were they on her for?
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Speaker 2: She's a whore, She's a sorry bitch. She drank you know,
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Speaker 2: she ain't never go sober up.
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Speaker 3: It was just horrible. So anyway, I ended up giving
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Speaker 3: her a ride home.
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Speaker 1: On the way, Hank asked if she wanted to stop
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Speaker 1: for a cup of coffee.
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Speaker 2: And we sat down and started talking, and it was like,
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Speaker 2: just like instantly we'd been together for fifty years.
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Speaker 3: I mean, she was so easy to talk to.
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Speaker 2: And she told me, she said, I have never met
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Speaker 2: anybody like you in my life.
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Speaker 3: What are you some kind of magician? And I'm like,
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Speaker 3: why do you say that? She said, I don't know.
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Speaker 3: But since I sit down and.
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Speaker 2: You started talking to you, I just started feeling some
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Speaker 2: kind of way.
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Speaker 1: Twila and Hank started spending all their time together.
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Speaker 3: Twila and I were soulmates.
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Speaker 2: We could just look at each other and know whatether
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Speaker 2: was thinking and what to say, you know, And whenever
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Speaker 2: we went to another people's house, she always said in
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Speaker 2: my loud people said we were like two high school kids.
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Speaker 3: That we were so in love.
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Speaker 4: Well, she was a lot older.
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Speaker 3: Than you, right, ten years. That's not a lot.
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Speaker 1: Twila had two sons, Elwyn, who went by Scooter, was
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Speaker 1: twenty two and Randy was twenty, and Hank took on
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Speaker 1: the young men as his own. The three of them
10:01
Speaker 1: had even worked together in a landscaping business. Hank had
10:05
Speaker 1: a previous hand injury that left his right dominant hand
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Speaker 1: virtually useless, so the boys were a big help.
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Speaker 2: So I laid out the plans and showed them what
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Speaker 2: to do and how to do it, and they did
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Speaker 2: all the manual labor and we made good money.
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Speaker 1: Everything was going great for Twila and Hank until seven
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Speaker 1: months into their relationship New Year's Eve, nineteen ninety three,
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Speaker 1: when it all came crashing down. This episode is underwritten
10:45
Speaker 1: by AIG, a leading global insurance company. AIG is committed
10:50
Speaker 1: to corporate social responsibility and to making a positive difference
10:54
Speaker 1: in the lives of its employees and in the communities
10:56
Speaker 1: where they work and live. In light of the compelling
10:59
Speaker 1: need for pro bono legal assistance, and in recognition of
11:02
Speaker 1: AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform, the AIG
11:07
Speaker 1: pro Bono Program provides free legal services and other support
11:11
Speaker 1: to underrepresented communities and individuals. On December thirty first, nineteen
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Speaker 1: ninety three, Hank, Twila, and Twyla's sons were all at
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Speaker 1: home preparing for their evening celebration. Although it could be
11:32
Speaker 1: a dangerous combination. Hank took some xanax and drank the
11:35
Speaker 1: better part of a fifth of vodka, and then he
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Speaker 1: accidentally started sipping Twila's drink, not realizing that she had
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Speaker 1: spiked it with codeine.
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Speaker 2: That in class looked the same as mine, and I
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Speaker 2: grabbed it and drank from it, and I.
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Speaker 3: Had no idea what was in.
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Speaker 1: Hank wound up passing out that night from the combination
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Speaker 1: of substances. He also says he's allergic to codeine.
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Speaker 2: It makes me sick, it gives me pardigo. I can't
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Speaker 2: stand up, it makes me very lethargic. I lose my balance,
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Speaker 2: I can't talk well. It feels like my throat is constricting,
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Speaker 2: like my wombs are full of cotton.
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Speaker 3: I can't get a deep breath.
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Speaker 4: Do you remember feeling any of that? Were you already
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Speaker 4: really drunk?
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Speaker 3: I remember feeling all of that before I passed out.
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Speaker 1: Around ten fifteen PM, Hank and Twyla's friend, Howard Mitchell,
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Speaker 1: came to pick them up to drive them to attend
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Speaker 1: his New Year's Eve party. When Howard arrived, he found
12:36
Speaker 1: Hank in a practically comatose steam. He tried to rouse
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Speaker 1: his friend but got no reaction. According to Howard, Hank
12:44
Speaker 1: was out cold, so he and Twila left for the
12:47
Speaker 1: party without Hank.
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Speaker 4: So but nobody called nine one one to make sure
12:53
Speaker 4: you're okay.
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Speaker 2: We're all a bunch of partiers. Everybody passes out. How
12:57
Speaker 2: many times a year been no party? And that's three
12:59
Speaker 2: or four? Motherfucker land. I learned the corners, and I've
13:02
Speaker 2: been passed out before.
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Speaker 3: But not like that.
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Speaker 1: At the party, Twyla encountered her uncle, Robert Dennell. He
13:14
Speaker 1: was incredibly drunk, following Twila around and making sexual advances.
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Speaker 1: They had previously had a sexual relationship, although Twila's consent
13:23
Speaker 1: to the relationship was questionable. She had allegedly told people
13:27
Speaker 1: her uncle had raped her more than once. Twila got
13:31
Speaker 1: uncomfortable and Howard took her home. They arrived back sometime
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Speaker 1: between eleven and eleven fifteen. After that, what happened is
13:40
Speaker 1: not totally clear, but here's how Hank remembers it. Sometime
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Speaker 1: that night, Hank says he was shaken awake by Scooter.
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Speaker 3: When I first woke up, I couldn't. I couldn't. I
13:53
Speaker 3: couldn't see where the fuck I was at. I couldn't.
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Speaker 2: I don't know it's his hor I couldn't think in words,
14:02
Speaker 2: and I'm seeing blood all over the walls, but I
14:06
Speaker 2: didn't recognize it as well. I'm thinking, what in the
14:09
Speaker 2: fuck that people slinging all over this living room? And
14:12
Speaker 2: so he got me up and he gave me my
14:15
Speaker 2: pants and he told me put them on.
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Speaker 3: We got to get the fuck out of here.
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Speaker 4: And he was already interested.
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Speaker 3: Yes, And I didn't know that.
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Speaker 1: Scooter had been stabbed in the chest and stomach area,
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Speaker 1: but he was still managing to move around and was
14:27
Speaker 1: trying to save both of their lives.
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Speaker 2: He said, we got to get out of your hank.
14:32
Speaker 2: They're coming back, and I'm thinking, who's coming back?
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Speaker 3: What the fuck are you talking about?
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Speaker 4: You remember him saying they were coming back?
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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, and he was saying it in a high
14:42
Speaker 2: screamed voice.
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Speaker 3: That's one of the things I remember.
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Speaker 1: Scooter was a big guy, six foot six and about
14:49
Speaker 1: two hundred and twenty five pounds, and despite his injuries,
14:53
Speaker 1: he was able to lift hank up and help him out.
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Speaker 4: Was anything registering at this point.
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Speaker 3: Now feeling whatever has happened is bad. This is bad.
15:07
Speaker 3: We have got to get the fluck out of here.
15:09
Speaker 3: But I wasn't thinking any words. I was just thinking
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Speaker 3: any emotions.
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Speaker 1: Still unsteading on his feet, Hank started looking around.
15:20
Speaker 2: But when I did, I lost my balance and fell
15:22
Speaker 2: face forward on the floor. And so I remember looking
15:26
Speaker 2: across the floor, got up on my elbows trying to
15:29
Speaker 2: get up, and I couldn't do it. And I remember
15:32
Speaker 2: looking across the floor and I could see my girlfriend,
15:35
Speaker 2: and all I could see was a mass of her
15:37
Speaker 2: hair and a blood black tinting the edges of everything,
15:44
Speaker 2: and everything was looking alternately red and green, but her
15:49
Speaker 2: face was gone.
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Speaker 1: Twila had been strangled and bludging to death. Someone had
15:55
Speaker 1: hit her fourteen times in the head with the handle
15:58
Speaker 1: of a pickaxe. When she was found, her pants were
16:01
Speaker 1: unzipped and her shirt was lifted up. As Hank was
16:06
Speaker 1: still trying to absorb everything, Scooter was pulling him to
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Speaker 1: go check on his younger brother, Randy.
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Speaker 2: And so we get in the bedroom and he leans
16:14
Speaker 2: me against the dresser so we can see about his brother.
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Speaker 2: And I couldn't even stand up, even holding on with
16:19
Speaker 2: the dresser, and I fell in the floor.
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Speaker 3: And this is something I remember. I don't remember falling.
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Speaker 2: I don't remember trying to get up, but I remember
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Speaker 2: looking up at him, and he's looking at his brother,
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Speaker 2: and he's got this horribly sad expression on his face,
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Speaker 2: and so I know he's dead.
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Speaker 1: Randy had been stabbed in the heart through his back
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Speaker 1: while he was asleep. He had died on the top
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Speaker 1: level of the bunk bed he shared with Scooter.
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Speaker 3: That's when I realized my hand was cut.
16:50
Speaker 2: And I didn't know how it had gotten cut, but
16:53
Speaker 2: I had a vague memory of somebody standing over top
16:58
Speaker 2: of me with a knife and I threw my hands
17:01
Speaker 2: up and they cut my hand.
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Speaker 3: And it was burning. And so I didn't know if
17:08
Speaker 3: that really happened to her, if I was just dreaming it.
17:12
Speaker 1: Hank wasn't dreaming that his hand was cut. That was real.
17:15
Speaker 1: He and Scooter moved through the house trying to escape,
17:18
Speaker 1: but they were bleeding everywhere, and.
17:20
Speaker 2: So we got out in the backyard and we went
17:23
Speaker 2: through the gate, and I didn't know where we were going,
17:26
Speaker 2: but we had to get the fuck out of there.
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Speaker 2: That's all I knew, and so I fell in the
17:32
Speaker 2: alley and he told me, Hank, I can't keep picking
17:35
Speaker 2: you up. And I said, don't worry about me, just
17:37
Speaker 2: go go get help, Go get help. And so I
17:41
Speaker 2: remember seeing him walk off towards the street light through
17:44
Speaker 2: the alley.
17:52
Speaker 1: Hank passed out again, so he didn't know that Scooter
17:55
Speaker 1: had made it to the neighbor's porch, where he finally
17:57
Speaker 1: succumbed to his wounds and collapsed. A neighbor found Scooter
18:01
Speaker 1: and called nine one one, and he was immediately brought
18:04
Speaker 1: to the hospital. There at twelve forty five am, Scooter died.
18:12
Speaker 1: When the police showed up and found out where Scooter lived,
18:15
Speaker 1: they immediately went to the house. When they arrived, they
18:19
Speaker 1: found a massacre. There was a trail of blood from
18:24
Speaker 1: the fence to the front porch. The front storm door
18:26
Speaker 1: was smeared with blood. Once inside, police found multiple bloody
18:30
Speaker 1: handprints on doors and doorknobs in the bedroom, kitchen, utility room,
18:35
Speaker 1: and on the door leading out to the backyard, along
18:39
Speaker 1: with bloody handprints and blood smeared throughout the house. Police
18:42
Speaker 1: also found a black plastic trash bag containing a wet,
18:46
Speaker 1: brown stained towel and a knife. They found the bloody
18:50
Speaker 1: pickaxe handle used to bludge in Twila, as well as
18:53
Speaker 1: a knife that was on the porch. They also found
18:56
Speaker 1: a man's windbreaker, and of course, the bodies of Twila
19:00
Speaker 1: and Randy. Almost immediately the police started looking for Hank
19:07
Speaker 1: the living boyfriend. They found him at Andrea Joyce Reid's house,
19:11
Speaker 1: where Hank had gone for help after he came to consciousness.
19:14
Speaker 1: Andrea was a neighbor and she was also Hank's ex girlfriend.
19:18
Speaker 1: Hank became the prime suspect.
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Speaker 5: The reason he was accused of the crime, I think
19:24
Speaker 5: is because in fact, he was the only survivor from
19:26
Speaker 5: the scene, which was both very lucky because the assailant
19:30
Speaker 5: didn't kill Hank, but it's also very unlucky because it
19:33
Speaker 5: meant all the fingers were immediately pointed at him.
19:37
Speaker 1: This is Rob Owen.
19:38
Speaker 5: I'm a lawyer. I live in Chicago. For many years
19:41
Speaker 5: I practiced in Texas doing mostly death penalty cases, and
19:45
Speaker 5: during that time was when I became one of the
19:47
Speaker 5: members of Hank Skinner's defense team. The police assumed that
19:51
Speaker 5: this was an open and shot case. They assumed that
19:54
Speaker 5: he had to be the killer he had some of
19:56
Speaker 5: the blood of Twila Busby and the other victims on
19:59
Speaker 5: his clothing, for example.
20:01
Speaker 1: And Hank says the blood very likely came from touching
20:04
Speaker 1: Twila to see if she was okay.
20:06
Speaker 5: I think that was all. It was very easy for
20:09
Speaker 5: the cops to assume that they had the right guy.
20:13
Speaker 1: Hank was taken to the police station and booked, but
20:16
Speaker 1: he was still so messed up from the alcohol and
20:18
Speaker 1: codine that he couldn't even stand on his own while
20:21
Speaker 1: his photograph was taken. The police had to hold him up.
20:24
Speaker 1: He was eventually taken to the hospital. Hank's cut hand
20:27
Speaker 1: was treated and he voluntarily gave blood samples. Results of
20:31
Speaker 1: those samples were used to calculate Hank's blood alcohol levels
20:34
Speaker 1: at the approximate time of the murders. They showed that
20:37
Speaker 1: at the time, Hank's blood alcohol content was almost three
20:41
Speaker 1: times the drunk driving standard and his coding level was
20:44
Speaker 1: two and a half times the recommended dose. And so
20:49
Speaker 1: this is Hank's alibi.
20:51
Speaker 5: Hank couldn't have committed this murder or these murders because
20:55
Speaker 5: he was simply physically incapable at the time of carrying
20:58
Speaker 5: them out.
20:59
Speaker 1: Remember, Hank was virtually comatose when Howard came to pick
21:03
Speaker 1: him up for the party, and Twila came home from
21:05
Speaker 1: that party only about an hour later. Hank couldn't have
21:08
Speaker 1: possibly sobered up by the time the murders transpired.
21:12
Speaker 5: Hank could only have been able to sort of at
21:15
Speaker 5: most stand and stagger like That would have been about
21:19
Speaker 5: the sum of his physical ability based on the volume
21:23
Speaker 5: of alcohol and codeine in his bloodstream.
21:30
Speaker 1: Police searched the house for ten days without a warrant,
21:33
Speaker 1: but they failed to collect key evidence, including non bloody
21:37
Speaker 1: finger and handprints. Vaginal swabs were taken from Twila, and
21:40
Speaker 1: despite one detective urging him to do so, Gary Stallings,
21:44
Speaker 1: the criminalist who was leading the forensics team, did not
21:47
Speaker 1: believe Twila was raped and did not have the swabs tested.
21:52
Speaker 1: None of the evidence directly linked Hank to the crime. Yes,
21:56
Speaker 1: his bloody handprints were there, but he also lived in
21:58
Speaker 1: the house and says he was attacked. There was also
22:01
Speaker 1: DNA and at least one handprint that was not Hank's, Twila's,
22:05
Speaker 1: scooters or Randy's, But despite all of that, Hank was
22:10
Speaker 1: prosecuted for the murders. His trial began a little over
22:13
Speaker 1: a year later, in March nineteen ninety five, he faced
22:17
Speaker 1: the death penalty. District Attorney John Mann was the prosecutor
22:29
Speaker 1: in the case. At trial, Man arrested his argument on
22:32
Speaker 1: two key testimonies, that of state witnesses Howard Mitchell and
22:37
Speaker 1: Andrea Joyce Reid. No actual forensics linking Hank to the
22:40
Speaker 1: crime were presented at trial. In fact, Stalling's the criminalist,
22:44
Speaker 1: conceded that just because the evidence proved Hank was there
22:48
Speaker 1: at the house does not identify him as the murderer.
22:51
Speaker 1: Howard Mitchell testified for the state and said that Hank
22:54
Speaker 1: was completely comatose when he arrived to take them to
22:57
Speaker 1: his party. But he also said that when Ryla's uncle,
23:00
Speaker 1: Robert Dennell was harassing her at his house, Howard took
23:03
Speaker 1: her home and that they shared a friendly kiss on
23:06
Speaker 1: the porch. Man used Howard's testimony to argue that Hank
23:10
Speaker 1: killed Twila, Scooter and Randy in a jealous rage. Andrea
23:15
Speaker 1: Joyce Reid, Hank's sex girlfriend and neighbor, also testified, but.
23:19
Speaker 5: She came in and said, well, when he got to
23:22
Speaker 5: my house on the night of the crime, he was
23:25
Speaker 5: behaving in ways that didn't seem that messed up. He
23:28
Speaker 5: was obviously intoxicated, but he was able to walk into
23:32
Speaker 5: the house under his own steam. He was able to
23:34
Speaker 5: take off his shirt. He was able to stitch up
23:38
Speaker 5: the severe cut that he had sustained on one hand
23:41
Speaker 5: using thread and needles that Andrea Reid provided him.
23:45
Speaker 1: Her testimony was a blow for the defense. Harold Comer,
23:49
Speaker 1: who happened to be a former prosecutor, was Hank's court
23:52
Speaker 1: appointed defense attorney. Comer argued that Hank survived the attacks
23:55
Speaker 1: because the perpetrator didn't perceive him as a threat in
23:58
Speaker 1: his condition. Also argued that Hank's pre existing injury had
24:02
Speaker 1: left his right hand with nerve and tissue damage. He
24:05
Speaker 1: did not have the strength to carry out these brutal murders.
24:09
Speaker 1: William T. Lowry, a forensic toxicologist for the defense, also
24:13
Speaker 1: said that it was quote highly improbable that Hank could
24:17
Speaker 1: have committed the murders based on how intoxicated he was.
24:20
Speaker 1: In a later afi David he added to his argument.
24:23
Speaker 1: He said, quote, mister Skinner at best would have been
24:26
Speaker 1: in a stuporous state, barely able to stand without assistance,
24:31
Speaker 1: and completely without the physical coordination or mental acuity. Required
24:35
Speaker 1: to commit these murders by strangulation, beating, and stabbing end quote.
24:41
Speaker 1: According to doctor Lowry, Hank was likely exerting whatever strength
24:45
Speaker 1: and energy he had just to stand up and walk.
24:48
Speaker 1: Based on Hank's bloody handprints around the walls of the
24:51
Speaker 1: house and his inability to stand for a photo at
24:53
Speaker 1: the police station, this was likely the case. Hank's defense
24:58
Speaker 1: attorney also presented Twyla's called Robert Dannell as an alternate suspect,
25:02
Speaker 1: but he failed to make a strong case of reasonable
25:05
Speaker 1: doubt for Hank, and on March eighteenth, nineteen ninety five,
25:09
Speaker 1: the jury deliberated for only two and a half hours
25:12
Speaker 1: before finding Hank guilty. Five days later, they handed him
25:16
Speaker 1: a death sentence.
25:18
Speaker 2: And I just can't believe they're done this to me
25:21
Speaker 2: because I'm innocent and they know they knew I was
25:24
Speaker 2: innocent before they arrested me.
25:44
Speaker 6: The fact that a country in the Western world still
25:47
Speaker 6: executed citizens is beyond shocking.
25:51
Speaker 1: This is sindury a George Skinner.
25:54
Speaker 6: I am French, spending half my time in Texas and
25:57
Speaker 6: half most time in France.
26:00
Speaker 1: And Hank have been married since two thousand and eight,
26:02
Speaker 1: and Hank is anxious to get out of prison so
26:04
Speaker 1: they can be together because of the pandemic. They hadn't
26:07
Speaker 1: seen or heard each other for almost three years until recently.
26:13
Speaker 1: So for three years, you guys have just been writing letters.
26:16
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's correct.
26:19
Speaker 1: How did you hear about Hank? And you know you're
26:24
Speaker 1: in France? What interested you? And somebody in Houston, Texas?
26:28
Speaker 3: Well.
26:29
Speaker 6: I had a friend in France who was a young
26:31
Speaker 6: lawyer and he wrote his thesis on the death penalty
26:35
Speaker 6: in Texas and he sent me a copy. I read
26:37
Speaker 6: it and I just had off my chair. I couldn't
26:40
Speaker 6: believe that the legal system in the US was so
26:44
Speaker 6: poor and so flawed. And he told me at the
26:47
Speaker 6: time about an organization that was set up and run
26:50
Speaker 6: by the death row prisoners in Texas and they had
26:54
Speaker 6: a sort of a trimestral newsletter. And he said, you know,
26:57
Speaker 6: if you want to translate it in French, could distribute
27:00
Speaker 6: in France and get people, you know, a bit more
27:02
Speaker 6: aware about what's going on there. And so I did
27:05
Speaker 6: a couple of times, and he said, well, she want
27:08
Speaker 6: to correspond with people there. I'm thinking of three guys
27:11
Speaker 6: I'm sure you'll get along with and Hank was one
27:13
Speaker 6: of those three guys. That's how we started writing in
27:16
Speaker 6: nineteen ninety.
27:17
Speaker 1: Six Saintdrin's as. They corresponded for about four years before
27:23
Speaker 1: she went to visit Hank on death Row, a place
27:25
Speaker 1: where prisoners are confined in cells alone and do everything alone.
27:30
Speaker 1: When she met Hank on death Row, that's when she
27:32
Speaker 1: felt he was more than just a pen pal.
27:35
Speaker 6: And you know, he's very smart, he's very funny, he's
27:40
Speaker 6: very strong, as you can imagine with what he's been through.
27:45
Speaker 6: And we just clicked instantly, even at a distance and
27:49
Speaker 6: in writing, and we clicked even more when we met.
27:52
Speaker 1: In what ways? I mean you might think, you know,
27:55
Speaker 1: you'd see our worlds apart literally, I mean you're we
27:57
Speaker 1: are a woman in France and he's a man on
28:01
Speaker 1: death row.
28:02
Speaker 6: Totally different culture, different background. Well yeah, you know, kindred spirits.
28:07
Speaker 6: I guess, no, no borders.
28:09
Speaker 1: So you guys have never been able to be intimate
28:11
Speaker 1: in any kind of way. You've never even touched his hand?
28:14
Speaker 6: No, never?
28:15
Speaker 1: What is that like?
28:16
Speaker 6: It's well, I'm not a masochist, but honestly, it is
28:20
Speaker 6: a torture. It is a torture. It really is a
28:23
Speaker 6: torture because you look sometimes, you know, when you even
28:26
Speaker 6: with your friends. I mean, I don't know here in
28:29
Speaker 6: the US, but in front, we are very felly, touchy,
28:32
Speaker 6: We need to be close. We kiss, we hug, so
28:36
Speaker 6: you know someone's sent their skin, you know, you know
28:40
Speaker 6: a lot of things. So basically our sensorial memories of
28:44
Speaker 6: each other's are the sound of our voices and our
28:48
Speaker 6: eyes and the look in our eyes. And not knowing
28:51
Speaker 6: his skin, not being able to comfort him is very,
28:55
Speaker 6: very hard.
29:02
Speaker 1: Through the years, Sandrine has flown back and forth between
29:05
Speaker 1: France and Houston to visit Hank on death row. Although
29:08
Speaker 1: she was not originally involved in Hank's innocence claim, Sandrine
29:12
Speaker 1: eventually became convinced of his innocence.
29:14
Speaker 6: And I read tons and tons of paperwork, and to
29:19
Speaker 6: me it was obvious, I mean physically, scientifically, for a
29:23
Speaker 6: number of reasons, it was very clear that he was innocent.
29:27
Speaker 1: And indeed, the one key witness that Hank's fate rested on,
29:30
Speaker 1: Andrea Jorce Reid, recanted her statement. Here's Robowen again.
29:35
Speaker 5: After Hank was convicted and sent to death row, Andrea
29:39
Speaker 5: Reid contacted Hank's lawyers and said that testimony wasn't true.
29:43
Speaker 5: I was really afraid because I thought I was likely
29:46
Speaker 5: to be accused of being some sort of accomplice or
29:49
Speaker 5: having assisted Hank in some way that would put me
29:51
Speaker 5: into legal jeopardy. She was at the time trying to
29:54
Speaker 5: gain custody of a child, and she thought that that
29:57
Speaker 5: would certainly be unlikely if the authorities were angry at
30:02
Speaker 5: her or believed she had some role in this crime.
30:05
Speaker 5: So she essentially went to trial and exaggerated systemically and
30:09
Speaker 5: repeatedly the things that Hank was able to do. What
30:13
Speaker 5: she said in her recantation was in fact, Hank was
30:17
Speaker 5: not able to get into the house on his own.
30:19
Speaker 5: She had to go outside basically drag him up the
30:22
Speaker 5: steps and into the house.
30:24
Speaker 1: But when she recanted, Prosecutor Man was not pleased.
30:28
Speaker 5: John Mann dragged Andrea Reid before a grand jury after
30:33
Speaker 5: she gave her affidavit recanting her trial testimony, and threatened
30:37
Speaker 5: to prosecute her for perjury if she persisted, And to
30:41
Speaker 5: her great credit, she did not back away from the recantation,
30:45
Speaker 5: and she said, I don't want false testimony on my conscience,
30:49
Speaker 5: and so I'm going to stick now telling the truth
30:51
Speaker 5: now about what the consequences for me personally are. But
30:54
Speaker 5: I think that says a lot about mister Mann that
30:56
Speaker 5: he was willing to threaten to prosecute her in order
30:59
Speaker 5: to keep her truth from coming out.
31:02
Speaker 1: Hank filed multiple appeals, one based on Andrew's recantation, but
31:07
Speaker 1: clearly none were sufficient for the court to free him.
31:10
Speaker 1: He was only met with execution dates. Sandrina and Hank
31:14
Speaker 1: kept up their relationship for nearly fifteen years before Hank
31:18
Speaker 1: got another execution date in March twenty ten. This time
31:22
Speaker 1: it was serious. He was transferred to one of the
31:24
Speaker 1: cells near the death chamber in Huntsville, Texas.
31:30
Speaker 2: They killed my first rand March the second. They killed
31:33
Speaker 2: my second Frand March the eleven. They were gonna kill
31:35
Speaker 2: me March twenty four or thirteen days later.
31:39
Speaker 3: Is that?
31:39
Speaker 4: What is that like? When you when you know you're
31:41
Speaker 4: going to die?
31:44
Speaker 2: It's indescribable. The last seven days you don't sleep at all.
31:50
Speaker 2: You're hyper vigilant. Your mind starts unrolling all of the
31:55
Speaker 2: things you've done in your life that you wish you
31:58
Speaker 2: hadn't done, the things you could have done better. I'm
32:03
Speaker 2: sitting there looking at that gurney that They're fixing to
32:06
Speaker 2: put me on. I could see it through the door.
32:08
Speaker 2: They had the door open. I could see the microphone,
32:11
Speaker 2: I could see the straps, arm boards, and I was
32:14
Speaker 2: absolutely convinced I was fixing to die.
32:18
Speaker 3: I just knew that I was.
32:19
Speaker 2: Gonna die because the courtsey just give me the short shrift.
32:23
Speaker 3: Every time we had files, I was like, fuck you
32:25
Speaker 3: the fuck you died, and so I felt like that
32:31
Speaker 3: was it.
32:33
Speaker 4: Did you get a last meal?
32:34
Speaker 3: Yes? I did? What was it?
32:36
Speaker 2: Popeye's Fried chicken, a cheese burrow, a double cheeseburger.
32:41
Speaker 3: With onions and tomatoes, no lettuce, and.
32:47
Speaker 2: Uh chocolate pudding, chocolate cake, and a chocolate milkshake.
32:53
Speaker 3: And I ate every bit of it.
33:01
Speaker 1: Fortunately, Hank's execution was stayed by the US Supreme Court
33:05
Speaker 1: less than an hour before he was set to be killed. Today,
33:10
Speaker 1: Hank spends his time as a jailhouse attorney, helping other
33:13
Speaker 1: prisoners with the law and their cases. And although he's
33:16
Speaker 1: in solitary on death row, incarcerated people do have a
33:19
Speaker 1: right to provide legal help to one another, so that's
33:22
Speaker 1: really his only social interactions. Hank has maintained his innocence
33:30
Speaker 1: for nearly thirty years to this day, he believes he
33:33
Speaker 1: was framed by Twyla's uncle, Bob Donell, and at one
33:37
Speaker 1: of Hank's later hearings, Denell's longtime neighbor, Deborah Ellis, testified
33:41
Speaker 1: that she saw Denell in his yard a few days
33:44
Speaker 1: after the murders took place. He was giving a frenzied
33:47
Speaker 1: cleaning to his old beat up pickup truck, taking out
33:50
Speaker 1: the seeds, throwing away the carpet, and scrubbing the floorboards
33:54
Speaker 1: with an astringent cleaner. Ellis found his behavior strange because
33:58
Speaker 1: Robert reportedly rarely cleaned his truck. Hank's theory is that
34:05
Speaker 1: after Twyla left the party with Howard, Denell followed them home.
34:09
Speaker 1: When Howard Mitchell testified at trial, he said that when
34:11
Speaker 1: he returned to the party, Denell was gone. Hank thinks
34:14
Speaker 1: he left to confront Twila at home, and when he
34:17
Speaker 1: saw Hank passed out, he left him as the sole survivor,
34:20
Speaker 1: knowing how that would look. And if you remember, there
34:24
Speaker 1: was a men's windbreaker jacket that was taken as evidence,
34:28
Speaker 1: however it was never tested.
34:30
Speaker 5: Clearly has potential evidentiary value. It's got blood spatter on
34:35
Speaker 5: the sleeves, it's got sweatstains on the collar, it's got
34:39
Speaker 5: hairs on the interior lining.
34:42
Speaker 1: Over the years, Rob and Hank's team have tried to
34:44
Speaker 1: test all the evidence they could, but it.
34:47
Speaker 5: Was only once we got into court that the state
34:49
Speaker 5: came in and said, oh, well, we don't know what
34:51
Speaker 5: happened to the jacket. The jacket is lost. And it's
34:54
Speaker 5: also a little weird that it's the only piece of
34:57
Speaker 5: evidence that they say is lost. Right, they had all
35:00
Speaker 5: the other events of the scene. They've got the blood swabs,
35:02
Speaker 5: they got the knives, they've got fingernail clippings, they've got hairs,
35:05
Speaker 5: but somehow they managed to lose an object as large
35:09
Speaker 5: as a man's windbreaker jacket. So I'm not going to
35:12
Speaker 5: vouch for their claim to have lost this jacket. I
35:16
Speaker 5: think they should still be looking for this jacket.
35:19
Speaker 1: DNA testing that was able to be done on the
35:21
Speaker 1: items from the crime scene has been completed. None of
35:24
Speaker 1: the results have implicated Hank as the murderer. However, the
35:27
Speaker 1: courts ruled that even if the DNA testing and results
35:30
Speaker 1: had been available at the time of trial, it's not
35:32
Speaker 1: reasonably probable that the jury would have found him not guilty,
35:36
Speaker 1: meaning the judge who decided the verdict would have reached
35:39
Speaker 1: the same conclusion. Hank has appealed this to the Texas
35:43
Speaker 1: Highest Criminal Court. When I met with Hank at the
35:55
Speaker 1: Polanski death row unit, I asked him.
35:59
Speaker 4: Do you wish you were killed that night instead of
36:01
Speaker 4: winding up here?
36:04
Speaker 2: There have been times when I wished that, because, especially
36:09
Speaker 2: in the first days after this happened and I was
36:12
Speaker 2: in jail, ce by myself, it would have been so much.
36:16
Speaker 3: Better, you know what I mean?
36:17
Speaker 2: And uh, alright, I just could not believe that they
36:23
Speaker 2: were called. I mean, the three people I love most.
36:26
Speaker 3: In this world.
36:26
Speaker 2: Her sons were my best friends. We spent all our
36:30
Speaker 2: time together and so uh f t to wake up
36:36
Speaker 2: one morning and there it is all gone, and I,
36:40
Speaker 2: you know, survivor's guilt.
36:43
Speaker 3: I didn't do this. There's nothing in the world that
36:45
Speaker 3: could have made me do it.
36:48
Speaker 2: But I felt so responsible because I was the king
36:52
Speaker 2: of that castle, and instead of passed out the drunk
36:57
Speaker 2: on the fucking couch, I should have been awake and
36:59
Speaker 2: able to do something.
37:02
Speaker 4: H M, can you envisional life outside of here?
37:21
Speaker 3: Sure?
37:22
Speaker 4: What does that look like?
37:23
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be with saying dream, do you think you'll
37:26
Speaker 2: go to France?
37:27
Speaker 3: Absolutely, you're gonna get out of here?
37:29
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I'm out of this country. They let me
37:32
Speaker 2: out of here. I'm so out of here.
37:33
Speaker 3: It ain't fund you.
37:35
Speaker 4: Do you think you're gonna get out?
37:39
Speaker 2: Well, tax is crazy and they've tried to kill me
37:43
Speaker 2: five times, so I believe that they're very serious about that.
37:49
Speaker 3: But I think with the evidence we have now.
37:53
Speaker 2: That there's no way they're gonna have to let me go,
37:56
Speaker 2: and they're gonna have to acknowledge that I'm innocent.
37:59
Speaker 3: I don't any other way, you know.
38:02
Speaker 2: I think, after all I've suffered that I deserve a chance,
38:08
Speaker 2: I deserve to be with my wife.
38:10
Speaker 3: I deserve to have a life. I deserve to be
38:13
Speaker 3: released and get the hell out of here. And I
38:15
Speaker 3: won't out. I'm telling you something, you know.
38:19
Speaker 2: It was just so amazing to find love a second time,
38:23
Speaker 2: and I love her endlessly, man, And I mean, we
38:27
Speaker 2: are really truly so amazed.
38:37
Speaker 1: Hank was facing another execution date in September of twenty
38:40
Speaker 1: twenty three. At the time of his death, Hank, Sandrine
38:44
Speaker 1: and his team were still fiercely fighting for his innocence.
38:49
Speaker 1: If you'd like to make a donation in Hank's memory,
38:51
Speaker 1: Sandrine recommends the Texas After Violence Project. More information about
38:56
Speaker 1: this and about Hank's case can be found at the
38:59
Speaker 1: link in our bio. Thank you for listening to Wrongful
39:13
Speaker 1: Conviction with Maggie Freeling. Please support your local innocence organizations
39:18
Speaker 1: and go to the links in our bio to see
39:20
Speaker 1: how you can help. I'd like to thank our executive
39:22
Speaker 1: producers Jason Flamm and Kevin Wurtis, as well as our
39:25
Speaker 1: senior producer Annie Chelsea, researcher Lila Robinson, story editor Sonya Paul,
39:31
Speaker 1: with additional production by Jeff Cleiburn and Connor Hall. The
39:35
Speaker 1: music in this production is by three time OSCAR nominated
39:38
Speaker 1: composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram
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Speaker 1: at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and
39:46
Speaker 1: on Twitter at Wrongful Conviction, as well as at Lava
39:49
Speaker 1: for Good. On all three platforms, you can also follow
39:52
Speaker 1: me on both Instagram and Twitter at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful
39:56
Speaker 1: Conviction with Maggie Freeling is a production of Lava for
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Speaker 1: Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number one