DNA testing of evidence collected at the scene of a 1993 Texas Panhandle triple murder "further confirms" that convicted killer Henry Skinner was guilty of the crime, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has told the Pampa court that tried the case.

Skinner, 50, was sentenced to death for the bludgeoning murder of his lover, Twila Busby, and the stabbing deaths of her two adult sons, Randy Busby and Edwin Caler.

Consistently protesting his innocence, Skinner has fought for more than a decade to obtain testing of potential evidence not analyzed for DNA. In June, Abbott's office and Skinner's attorney agreed that 40 items would be tested at the Texas Department of Public Safety's Lubbock laboratory.

Skinner, whose case has become an international cause celibre among death penalty opponents, claimed that he had consumed excessive alcohol and codeine and was unconscious at the time of the New Year's Eve killings.

Skinner had called for DNA testing of a bloody knife found on the front porch of the residence he shared with the victims. Abbott advised the Pampa court that the knife bore blood traces from Skinner, Caler and a third individual who was not identified.

"While Skinner argued that he was too incapacitated to commit the murders and that he was unconscious on the couch while the murders occurred, DNA results prove he was in the back bedrooms of Ms. Busby's house," Abbott says. "Skinner's DNA was found in blood in the bedroom where Randy Busby was stabbed to death."

Skinner's attorney, Rob Owen of the University of Texas Law School's capital punishment clinic, blasted Abbott for releasing "partial results of the DNA testing" while the testing continues.

The initial round of testing indicates at least one person other than Skinner or the victims may have been present in the house the night the murders occurred.

allan.turner@chron.com

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Abbott says DNA testing confirms Skinner's guilt in murders