Texas death row inmate dies after December surgery for tumor

By JUAN A. LOZANO
Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — A spokesperson for the Texas prison system says a man who had been on the state’s death row for nearly 30 years after being convicted in the killings of his girlfriend and her two sons has died of natural causes. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson says 60-year-old Henry “Hank” Skinner died Thursday afternoon at a hospital in Galveston. In a statement, Skinner’s attorneys say he died from complications following surgery in December to remove a brain tumor. Skinner had been scheduled to be executed Sept. 13. Skinner was convicted of capital murder for the New Year’s Eve 1993 deaths of 40-year-old Twila Jean Busby and her adult sons in their home in Pampa, located in the Texas Panhandle. Skinner had long maintained his innocence.