Following the advisory filed in court by the Attorney General’s office and media articles, Hank’s lawyers issued another press release:
“We are concerned that the Attorney General’s office has seen fit to publish partial results of DNA testing and to present its opinion to the court while DNA tests are still ongoing. Partial results that were produced by the first set of DNA tests show that at least one person other than Hank Skinner and the victims could have been present in the house the night of the murders took place, and perhaps have had contact with one of the weapons used in the murders.
We are not able to draw firm conclusions about whether the DNA testing has solved the lingering questions about the guilt of Hank Skinner or innocence until the whole DNA testing is completed, and the underlying data for DNA analysis has been made available to our experts for detailed examination.
More specifically, DNA testing of a sample of carpet in the room occupied by the victims, Elwin Caler and Randy Busby, reveals a mixed DNA profile of Mr. Caler and that an unknown person who is not Mr. Skinner, Randy Busby, or Twila Busby.
In addition, DNA tests of a spot on a knife that may have been used in the murders reveals a mixture of three DNA contributors. Two of the contributors seem Mr. Caler and Mr. Skinner, but the third largest contributor is someone other than Mr. Caler, M. Skinner, Randy Busby or Twila Busby.
The police laboratory submitted the unknown DNA profile from the sample carpet to the CODIS DNA database, but this search produced no results.
We requested additional DNA testing that could improve the quality of the unknown DNA profile from the sample carpet to allow the authorities to submit to CODIS, the national database of DNA data to match against. We also requested additional DNA testing stains on the knife, to further develop the DNA profile of the third contributor.
All parties must do everything in their power to ensure that Texas is not going to commit an irreversible mistake. “
– Rob Owen, attorney for Hank Skinner | Professor of Law at the University of Texas November 14, 2012