Convicted killer Hank Skinner
/ File
HOUSTON (AP) - Attorneys for a condemned triple killer facing execution this week are asking Texas Gov. Rick Perry to use his authority to grant a one-time 30-day reprieve so DNA testing can be conducted on evidence they contend could show inmate Henry Skinner is innocent.
Skinner is set to die Wednesday for the New Year's Eve 1993 slayings of his girlfriend and her two sons at their home in Pampa in the Texas Panhandle.
Skinner's lawyers Monday asked Perry to take the time needed to be scientifically certain of Skinner's guilt.
Prosecutors have argued courts already have ruled out Skinner's requests for new tests and his attorneys are only trying to delay the punishment.
Skinner has an appeal pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that mirrors the Perry request.
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