I've been following the Henry Skinner death warrant insanity, horror, ... ? His last second stay by SCOTUS is a huge and improbable victory for the defense team and of course their client – And it doesn't matter that the stay may be fleeting – The only thing that matters is that this team of attorneys saved their client's life last night, absolutely.
Even if Skinner's appeal or stay or claim of actual innocence otherwise evaporates, even if he is executed one month or one week from today, the defense team saved their client's life last night within 30 minutes of execution.
What's it like to do that as an attorney? Professor David Dow knows and he writes honestly of the torturous process of capital defense practice in Texas in his book, The Autobiography of an Execution ... If you think the Skinner insanity is unprecedented, you would likely be wrong. Folks with viable "actual innocence" claims get put down in Texas and other states. Want to know what it feels like when you lose and your client is executed? You can't know. I can't know. But Professor Dow's book opens a window onto the process and his death penalty team's honesty and integrity are apparent on every page.
