WEBVTT - #351 Maggie Freleng with Hank Skinner 0:00:02.080 --> 0:00:05.520 This is Maggie Freeling. Today we're revisiting an episode from 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:09.840 season one that's very close to my heart. When I 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:12.920 visited Hank Skinner last year at the Polunsky death Row 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:17.320 unit in Livingston, Texas, I was nervous. Hank and I 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:19.759 had been in touch for a few years, but only 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:22.599 through letters. He was not permitted to use phones on 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:26.080 death Row. We once had a tense exchange of letters 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:29.360 when Hank misinterpreted something I said, and it kind of 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.000 put me on edge talking to him. So I was 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.000 super nervous to go down there. But as soon as 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:37.960 Hank was brought out and sat down, he said to me, 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:40.800 if I knew this is what you looked like, I 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:43.919 would have been more open with you. And then we 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:45.640 were both just at ease. And I think what he 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:50.400 meant was because I look like him with tattoos and 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:53.080 just jeans and a T shirt, that he felt like 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:55.800 I was like him and not just a suit that 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:59.040 was coming in to tell his story and then leave. 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:03.920 So I left that interaction with Hank elated about meeting him, 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:09.760 the trust we had built, and really hopeful for his future. Unfortunately, 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:13.000 that would be the last time I spoke with Hank. 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:17.640 Hank died this past February at the Prison Hospital in Galveston, 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:21.400 with his wife, Sandrine at his side, and in the end, 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:25.320 it wasn't the state that killed him, but complications following 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:29.880 surgery for an aggressive brain tumor. And despite his illness, 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:34.600 Hank staunchly continued to maintain his innocence and to fight 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:39.680 for exoneration with the tireless help and support of Sandrine 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:43.800 and his attorneys. Hank's dedication to the truth and the 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:48.440 face of massive injustice has inspired us all, and so 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:51.280 to honor his memory, we'd like to share his story 0:01:51.520 --> 0:02:01.480 with you again. On December thirty first, nineteen ninety three, 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:04.600 thirty one year old Hank Skinner was pregaming for a 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:07.080 New Year's Eve party. He was with his girlfriend of 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.440 seven months, forty one year old Twila Busby, and her 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:15.760 two adult children, Scooter and Randy. Hank passed out before 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:20.280 ten PM from a potent combination of vodka, codine, and xanax. 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:23.920 Despite his condition, Twyla left for the party without him. 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:26.960 When she returned, she was strangled and bludgeoned to death. 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:31.480 Her two sons were stabbed to death. Hank was the 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:36.040 sole survivor and was instantly the prime suspect, despite evidence 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:39.120 that Hank was incapable of committing these murders and that 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:43.560 another more probable person of interest exists. Hank has spent 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:48.519 nearly thirty years on Texas death row awaiting execution. 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.920 And they've tried to kill me five times, so I 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.240 believe that they were serious about that. 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.240 But I think with the evidence. 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:03.320 We have now that there's no way they're going to 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:04.920 have to let me go, and they're going to have 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:11.240 to acknowledge that I'm innocent. I don't see any other way. 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:14.320 From love for good. This is roumful conviction with Maggie 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:32.560 Freeling today. Hank Skinner. Hank Skinner was born on April fourth, 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:35.960 nineteen sixty two. He's the oldest of four kids. 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:38.160 I'm from Virginia, Okay. 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:40.640 I was born in the foothills of the Blue Ridge 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:45.120 Mountains in Franklin County, Virginia, which is the moonshine capital 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:46.480 of the United States. 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:49.560 His dad was part of the local industry. He was 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:52.119 a foreign car mechanic as well as a moonshiner. 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:52.880 See. 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:56.400 He had three eight hundred gallons steam steels and fired 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:57.160 on butane. 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.560 He made the best sugar looker you've ever drank, and 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:02.360 see moonshine. 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:05.040 If it's made correctly, it's a lot better than store 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:09.560 bought liquor. And so my dad's stuff burned clear, and 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:11.360 I mean it was about one hundred and forty proof. 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:13.640 You can just get a four ounce glass to do 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:15.720 ice cubes and sip. 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:16.000 On it off. 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:18.040 So did you just grew up drinking moonshine? 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:19.039 Yeah? Sure. 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:20.440 When was the first time you drank it? 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:24.159 Six years old? I stole it from my dad. 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:30.719 Growing up, Hank felt like he had the best parents 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:33.320 in the world. He takes pride that he was named 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:34.640 after his dad. 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:38.360 I'm actually a junior, but when my dad passed, I 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:40.839 took his name and so now I'm just Henry Skinner. 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:43.720 Hank Skinner. Hank is a nickname for Henry. 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:48.400 He loved Hank Williams Senior, and I love Hank Williams 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:50.520 Junior and Hank the third. 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:51.400 I love them all. 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:52.560 Yeah, out the same way. 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:54.839 Hank learned a lot from his dad. 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:58.080 Like my dad, he taught me how to slaughter hogs 0:04:58.120 --> 0:04:59.120 and slaughter cattle. 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.400 Worked for his dad too young. Hank was a skilled 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:04.200 laborer and free spirit. 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:07.919 We were just a bunch of wild, rambunctious kids having 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.400 a good time. We had field cake parties and cow pastors. 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.320 There was bikers up there everywhere. That's who I grew 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:15.719 up with. 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:19.840 But Hank also had a soft spot for the female 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.560 role models in his life. Like his mom and grandma, 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:25.600 Hank grew up learning a lot from them, including how 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:26.440 to respect women. 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:32.159 If you want to find out anything in life that 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:35.400 really means something, find out from a woman. They know 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:39.839 how to do everything, and so I can sew, I 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:42.320 can alter clothes. I used to make dresses for my 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:46.240 little sister on my mama sewing machine. I made quilts. 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:48.200 I know how to do everything. I know how to 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:50.520 can vegetables, you know, out of the garden. We used 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:52.960 to do this every year. Where the women aren't the shit. 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:54.880 That's all there is to it, you know what I mean. 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.560 Hank also learned a lot about women after he married 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:02.200 quite young. 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:07.000 I was nineteen, My wife was sixteen, and we had 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:09.400 just gotten married because she was already pregnant. 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.640 I had a daughter, Natalie Joe. I was so in 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:15.200 love with her when she was born. 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:19.200 Natalie Joe was the light of Hank's life, but Hank's 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:22.520 marriage to Natalie, Joe's mother was another story. He and 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.400 his wife struggled to get along. According to Hank, she 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:27.200 had substance abuse issues. 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:30.479 She was strung out on cocaine. Well, he had a 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.000 big argument to fight going on all the time. 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:37.800 And so my daughter stayed with her mother. 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.320 That was the only thing that was acceptable to her. 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:43.360 My mama wanted her, but she wouldn't let my mama 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:43.840 have her. 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:46.080 And so my. 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:49.880 Wife was doing crazy things when we divorce, so I 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:51.400 just said, fuck this, I'm done. 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.880 I left and I went first to Georgia. 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:58.479 There in Georgia, Hank worked at a casino who's high 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:01.400 earning customers were key or two by women. 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:04.160 And these are gamblers and they're high rollers, and so 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:05.880 they want woman on their arm. 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:09.080 You know, Hank took it upon himself to look out 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:09.600 for these. 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.360 Women if they get two hands yet, like you know, 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.280 I'm the guy who steps in and tells them now, no, no, 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:16.720 you know it can't. 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:17.040 Be doing that. 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:20.760 And so have you ever seen that movie Roadhouse with 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:23.440 Patrick Swayze, Because that's what I did. 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:26.240 I was a cooler just like he was in that movie, 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:26.840 but not. 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:30.400 In a bar in the gambling establishment, And so I 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:35.000 lived in an old, old ramshackle rooming house that had 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:37.960 three stories and had big stucco porch on the top. 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:39.760 And so I could sit up there and drink beer 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:42.080 and smoke weed and watch all the cars go by 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:44.600 and holler at the girls. I was the rooster of 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:45.160 the hymn house. 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.240 I had it all in his mind. Hank was living 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:49.080 the life. 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:51.240 So how'd you wind up in Texas? 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:53.280 So when I came out here, I came out here 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.880 because I wanted to break out in the oil field, 0:07:56.800 --> 0:07:58.480 because I heard about the oil field. 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:00.520 It was a good place to make money. I did. 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:03.880 I made a lot of money out here. I ended 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:06.160 up moving to Papa. That's an old filled town. 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:11.000 And Pampa Hank found kindred spirits in the lifestyle he enjoyed, 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:14.760 but soon he was charged and convicted for unauthorized use 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:17.720 of a motor vehicle and was on parole. He started 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:20.280 going to AA as part of his parole, and that's 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:21.840 where he met Tila Busby. 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:26.560 These two guys were picking on her, and so I 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:28.800 dried up her tears and I talked to her and 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:29.840 got her all right. 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:34.800 She was just they were just drilling. I mean, the 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:35.800 way they were, mister. 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:36.960 What were they on her for? 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:40.920 She's a whore, She's a sorry bitch. She drank you know, 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:42.600 she ain't never go sober up. 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:47.920 It was just horrible. So anyway, I ended up giving 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:48.720 her a ride home. 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:51.480 On the way, Hank asked if she wanted to stop 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:58.280 for a cup of coffee. 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:59.400 And we sat down and started talking, and it was like, 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:03.120 just like instantly we'd been together for fifty years. 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:05.880 I mean, she was so easy to talk to. 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:10.520 And she told me, she said, I have never met 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:12.240 anybody like you in my life. 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.080 What are you some kind of magician? And I'm like, 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:17.240 why do you say that? She said, I don't know. 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:18.719 But since I sit down and. 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:20.960 You started talking to you, I just started feeling some 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:22.280 kind of way. 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:26.360 Twila and Hank started spending all their time together. 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:29.000 Twila and I were soulmates. 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:31.520 We could just look at each other and know whatether 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:35.040 was thinking and what to say, you know, And whenever 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:37.280 we went to another people's house, she always said in 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:40.640 my loud people said we were like two high school kids. 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:41.640 That we were so in love. 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:43.160 Well, she was a lot older. 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.920 Than you, right, ten years. That's not a lot. 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.959 Twila had two sons, Elwyn, who went by Scooter, was 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:59.360 twenty two and Randy was twenty, and Hank took on 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:01.520 the young men as his own. The three of them 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.120 had even worked together in a landscaping business. Hank had 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:08.360 a previous hand injury that left his right dominant hand 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:12.400 virtually useless, so the boys were a big help. 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:14.920 So I laid out the plans and showed them what 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:16.520 to do and how to do it, and they did 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.320 all the manual labor and we made good money. 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:25.120 Everything was going great for Twila and Hank until seven 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:28.240 months into their relationship New Year's Eve, nineteen ninety three, 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:45.559 when it all came crashing down. This episode is underwritten 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:50.199 by AIG, a leading global insurance company. AIG is committed 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:54.040 to corporate social responsibility and to making a positive difference 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:56.640 in the lives of its employees and in the communities 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.360 where they work and live. In light of the compelling 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:02.760 need for pro bono legal assistance, and in recognition of 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:07.079 AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform, the AIG 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:11.319 pro Bono Program provides free legal services and other support 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:24.840 to underrepresented communities and individuals. On December thirty first, nineteen 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.440 ninety three, Hank, Twila, and Twyla's sons were all at 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:32.000 home preparing for their evening celebration. Although it could be 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:35.920 a dangerous combination. Hank took some xanax and drank the 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.040 better part of a fifth of vodka, and then he 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:43.719 accidentally started sipping Twila's drink, not realizing that she had 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:45.720 spiked it with codeine. 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:49.840 That in class looked the same as mine, and I 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.880 grabbed it and drank from it, and I. 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:54.599 Had no idea what was in. 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.240 Hank wound up passing out that night from the combination 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:01.680 of substances. He also says he's allergic to codeine. 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:05.920 It makes me sick, it gives me pardigo. I can't 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:11.920 stand up, it makes me very lethargic. I lose my balance, 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:16.360 I can't talk well. It feels like my throat is constricting, 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:18.560 like my wombs are full of cotton. 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:20.080 I can't get a deep breath. 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:22.160 Do you remember feeling any of that? Were you already 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:22.679 really drunk? 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:25.720 I remember feeling all of that before I passed out. 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:31.640 Around ten fifteen PM, Hank and Twyla's friend, Howard Mitchell, 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:33.880 came to pick them up to drive them to attend 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.880 his New Year's Eve party. When Howard arrived, he found 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:40.760 Hank in a practically comatose steam. He tried to rouse 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:44.520 his friend but got no reaction. According to Howard, Hank 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.840 was out cold, so he and Twila left for the 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:49.120 party without Hank. 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.000 So but nobody called nine one one to make sure 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:53.560 you're okay. 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:56.960 We're all a bunch of partiers. Everybody passes out. How 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.079 many times a year been no party? And that's three 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:02.959 or four? Motherfucker land. I learned the corners, and I've 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:04.559 been passed out before. 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:05.440 But not like that. 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:14.800 At the party, Twyla encountered her uncle, Robert Dennell. He 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:19.160 was incredibly drunk, following Twila around and making sexual advances. 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:23.560 They had previously had a sexual relationship, although Twila's consent 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:27.720 to the relationship was questionable. She had allegedly told people 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:31.280 her uncle had raped her more than once. Twila got 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:35.040 uncomfortable and Howard took her home. They arrived back sometime 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:40.240 between eleven and eleven fifteen. After that, what happened is 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:46.000 not totally clear, but here's how Hank remembers it. Sometime 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.120 that night, Hank says he was shaken awake by Scooter. 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.800 When I first woke up, I couldn't. I couldn't. I 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:56.800 couldn't see where the fuck I was at. I couldn't. 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:01.160 I don't know it's his hor I couldn't think in words, 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:06.400 and I'm seeing blood all over the walls, but I 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:08.920 didn't recognize it as well. I'm thinking, what in the 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.600 fuck that people slinging all over this living room? And 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:14.960 so he got me up and he gave me my 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:16.680 pants and he told me put them on. 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:18.079 We got to get the fuck out of here. 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:19.360 And he was already interested. 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:21.120 Yes, And I didn't know that. 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:24.760 Scooter had been stabbed in the chest and stomach area, 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:27.400 but he was still managing to move around and was 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:29.680 trying to save both of their lives. 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:32.240 He said, we got to get out of your hank. 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.520 They're coming back, and I'm thinking, who's coming back? 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:37.200 What the fuck are you talking about? 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:39.440 You remember him saying they were coming back? 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:42.360 Yes, yes, and he was saying it in a high 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:43.560 screamed voice. 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:45.480 That's one of the things I remember. 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:49.760 Scooter was a big guy, six foot six and about 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:53.200 two hundred and twenty five pounds, and despite his injuries, 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:55.960 he was able to lift hank up and help him out. 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:59.200 Was anything registering at this point. 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:07.160 Now feeling whatever has happened is bad. This is bad. 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:08.720 We have got to get the fluck out of here. 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:12.560 But I wasn't thinking any words. I was just thinking 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:13.640 any emotions. 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.920 Still unsteading on his feet, Hank started looking around. 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:22.640 But when I did, I lost my balance and fell 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:26.840 face forward on the floor. And so I remember looking 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:29.920 across the floor, got up on my elbows trying to 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:32.160 get up, and I couldn't do it. And I remember 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:35.240 looking across the floor and I could see my girlfriend, 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:37.760 and all I could see was a mass of her 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:43.400 hair and a blood black tinting the edges of everything, 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:49.320 and everything was looking alternately red and green, but her 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:50.280 face was gone. 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.520 Twila had been strangled and bludging to death. Someone had 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:58.360 hit her fourteen times in the head with the handle 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:01.000 of a pickaxe. When she was found, her pants were 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:06.600 unzipped and her shirt was lifted up. As Hank was 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.440 still trying to absorb everything, Scooter was pulling him to 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:11.320 go check on his younger brother, Randy. 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:14.560 And so we get in the bedroom and he leans 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.120 me against the dresser so we can see about his brother. 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:19.920 And I couldn't even stand up, even holding on with 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:21.640 the dresser, and I fell in the floor. 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.520 And this is something I remember. I don't remember falling. 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:28.760 I don't remember trying to get up, but I remember 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:32.360 looking up at him, and he's looking at his brother, 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:35.560 and he's got this horribly sad expression on his face, 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:37.760 and so I know he's dead. 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:42.560 Randy had been stabbed in the heart through his back 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:44.960 while he was asleep. He had died on the top 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:47.120 level of the bunk bed he shared with Scooter. 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:50.240 That's when I realized my hand was cut. 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.800 And I didn't know how it had gotten cut, but 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:58.000 I had a vague memory of somebody standing over top 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:01.320 of me with a knife and I threw my hands 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:03.280 up and they cut my hand. 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:08.440 And it was burning. And so I didn't know if 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:10.760 that really happened to her, if I was just dreaming it. 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.160 Hank wasn't dreaming that his hand was cut. That was real. 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:17.840 He and Scooter moved through the house trying to escape, 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:20.840 but they were bleeding everywhere, and. 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.240 So we got out in the backyard and we went 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:26.000 through the gate, and I didn't know where we were going, 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:27.600 but we had to get the fuck out of there. 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:31.960 That's all I knew, and so I fell in the 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:35.399 alley and he told me, Hank, I can't keep picking 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:37.560 you up. And I said, don't worry about me, just 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:41.080 go go get help, Go get help. And so I 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:44.160 remember seeing him walk off towards the street light through 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:44.720 the alley. 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:55.119 Hank passed out again, so he didn't know that Scooter 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.600 had made it to the neighbor's porch, where he finally 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:01.439 succumbed to his wounds and collapsed. A neighbor found Scooter 0:18:01.560 --> 0:18:04.520 and called nine one one, and he was immediately brought 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:08.840 to the hospital. There at twelve forty five am, Scooter died. 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:14.960 When the police showed up and found out where Scooter lived, 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:19.040 they immediately went to the house. When they arrived, they 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:24.080 found a massacre. There was a trail of blood from 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:26.800 the fence to the front porch. The front storm door 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:30.679 was smeared with blood. Once inside, police found multiple bloody 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:34.880 handprints on doors and doorknobs in the bedroom, kitchen, utility room, 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:38.959 and on the door leading out to the backyard, along 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.400 with bloody handprints and blood smeared throughout the house. Police 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:45.920 also found a black plastic trash bag containing a wet, 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:50.119 brown stained towel and a knife. They found the bloody 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:53.439 pickaxe handle used to bludge in Twila, as well as 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:56.280 a knife that was on the porch. They also found 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:59.920 a man's windbreaker, and of course, the bodies of Twila 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:07.040 and Randy. Almost immediately the police started looking for Hank 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:10.879 the living boyfriend. They found him at Andrea Joyce Reid's house, 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.240 where Hank had gone for help after he came to consciousness. 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:18.080 Andrea was a neighbor and she was also Hank's ex girlfriend. 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:20.840 Hank became the prime suspect. 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:23.920 The reason he was accused of the crime, I think 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.920 is because in fact, he was the only survivor from 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:30.600 the scene, which was both very lucky because the assailant 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:33.919 didn't kill Hank, but it's also very unlucky because it 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:36.680 meant all the fingers were immediately pointed at him. 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:38.119 This is Rob Owen. 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:41.679 I'm a lawyer. I live in Chicago. For many years 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:45.160 I practiced in Texas doing mostly death penalty cases, and 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:47.480 during that time was when I became one of the 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:51.520 members of Hank Skinner's defense team. The police assumed that 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:53.919 this was an open and shot case. They assumed that 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.320 he had to be the killer he had some of 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:59.639 the blood of Twila Busby and the other victims on 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:01.600 his clothing, for example. 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:04.600 And Hank says the blood very likely came from touching 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:06.479 Twila to see if she was okay. 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.720 I think that was all. It was very easy for 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:11.960 the cops to assume that they had the right guy. 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:16.359 Hank was taken to the police station and booked, but 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:18.719 he was still so messed up from the alcohol and 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:21.880 codine that he couldn't even stand on his own while 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:24.720 his photograph was taken. The police had to hold him up. 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:27.800 He was eventually taken to the hospital. Hank's cut hand 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:31.280 was treated and he voluntarily gave blood samples. Results of 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:34.760 those samples were used to calculate Hank's blood alcohol levels 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:37.320 at the approximate time of the murders. They showed that 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:41.080 at the time, Hank's blood alcohol content was almost three 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:44.800 times the drunk driving standard and his coding level was 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:48.520 two and a half times the recommended dose. And so 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:51.320 this is Hank's alibi. 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:54.920 Hank couldn't have committed this murder or these murders because 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:58.680 he was simply physically incapable at the time of carrying 0:20:58.720 --> 0:20:59.160 them out. 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:03.000 Remember, Hank was virtually comatose when Howard came to pick 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:05.399 him up for the party, and Twila came home from 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:08.879 that party only about an hour later. Hank couldn't have 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.960 possibly sobered up by the time the murders transpired. 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:15.760 Hank could only have been able to sort of at 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:19.439 most stand and stagger like That would have been about 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:23.920 the sum of his physical ability based on the volume 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:29.920 of alcohol and codeine in his bloodstream. 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:33.119 Police searched the house for ten days without a warrant, 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:37.080 but they failed to collect key evidence, including non bloody 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:40.800 finger and handprints. Vaginal swabs were taken from Twila, and 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:44.800 despite one detective urging him to do so, Gary Stallings, 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:47.679 the criminalist who was leading the forensics team, did not 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:51.840 believe Twila was raped and did not have the swabs tested. 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:56.120 None of the evidence directly linked Hank to the crime. Yes, 0:21:56.200 --> 0:21:58.600