On March 7, 2011, the US Supreme Court voted in favor of Hank 6 votes against 3. Decision is here. This decision allowed Hank to pursue his civil complaint to seek DNA testing.
Tag Archives: news
News May – July 2010
At the 11th hour, the US Supreme Court ordered an unlimited stay. On May 24, two months to the day after the stay, the Court agreed to hear the case. Oral arguments were scheduled for Oct. 13 in Washington and the decision of the Court was awaited in the spring of 2011. It … Continue Reading ››
News March 2010
In response to the new appeal, filed on March 4, the court issued an order stating that the request for a new petition for habeas corpus must be filed directly with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to determine if, procedurally, it is a "new appeal" or a "successive" petition. On March 9, … Continue Reading ››
News February – March 2010
On February 19, 2010, Hank's attorneys filed a motion to expedite appeal. On March 1st, 2010, the US Supreme Court denied Hank's petition for writ of certiorari #09-7784, another petition for writ of cetiorari is still pending with the US Supreme Court. Also on March 1st, Hank's attorneys filed an application for post … Continue Reading ››
News January 2010
On January 15, 2010 the judge in charge of the complaint submitted its findings and recommended that the complaint be canceled. Federal Judge Mary Lou Robinson confirmed this report, January 20, 2010, she issued a one-page ruling confirming the cancellation of the complaint against the Gray County District Attorney, Lynn Switzer. This was … Continue Reading ››
News November 2009
On November 23, 2009, the defense filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court and on November 27, the team also filed a civil complaint in federal court against the Attorney General of Gray County, Lynn Switzer, who refuses to hand the evidence over to the defense so that DNA testing can be … Continue Reading ››
News May 2008 – September 2009
There have been two developments for Hank's case in recent months. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a certificate of Appeal on 14 May 2008. His lawyers filed a motion July 24, 2008. On July 14, 2009, that court dismissed the appeal. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin granted a … Continue Reading ››
Post-Conviction DNA Exonerations
To this day, there have been 317 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States, 18 of those were death row cases. Texas leads the country not only in terms of executions (515), but also in terms of DNA exonerations (48) and this is no coincidence.