The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday morning that it will hear oral arguments on the Hank Skinner case, which is being worked on by the Medill Innocence Project.

The case will likely be heard during the court’s 2010 term, which begins in October.

At issue is whether the 47-year-old Skinner, who in March was within 47 minutes of being executed, is entitled under federal civil rights law to request DNA tests on biological evidence in his case, according to a statement posted by David Protess, the head of the project, on its website.

The case will be viewed as a test case on the larger issue of whether DNA testing is a right of criminal defendants, according to the statement.

Initial DNA testing proved Skinner was at the scene of the murder of a woman and her grown sons in Pampa, Tex. in 1993, but further testing indicated he may be innocent.

Prosecutors discontinued the further testing. The Medill Innocence Project has been fighting to allow more testing.

Read the Supreme Court order here (on page three).

Read Protess’ statement here.

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