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AFFIDAVIT OF ANDREA JOYCE REED

Dat ed, Sep t ember ) :;> , 1997 )

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Gray Count y, Texas )

My name is Andrea Joyce Reed. The attorney who represents

Henry Skinner gave me a copy of the written statement that I made

to Officer Co nn ie Ogle on January 1, 1994, a nd the transcript of my

testimony at Hank ' s trial for capital murd er in Fort Wo rt h on rllarch

9, 1995. I carefully read both of these documents befo re I signed

this affidavit. I s wear that all of the statements in the affidavl c

are t r ue.

Several of the t hings t ha t I said in my written statement

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t ri a l tes ) are false. I lied be ca use
:z: tJ/I-5
eatoFled- and " intimidated '-'"by Officer Katie Gerhardt and t he
di stric t attorney's investigato r, Bill MCMi nn .

This is what really happened. At abo,ut midnight o n the night

of December 3 1, 19 93 , I was in the bedroom o f my trailer house at

705 Henry St. in Pampa, Texas, with my daughter, Jessica, and son,

Kris, wh e n I h eard someone pounding on th e wa l l. I asked t h e person

e rd y\ voice that I recognized as Han k

. 1....)
. m hurt . Pleas e let me in " or words to

t hat effect. l\t first, I to ld Hank t o leave and threatened to call

the police if he did no t d o so. Hank was an old frie nd , but: I did

not a ssoc ia te with him be c ause h e was a n a l coho l ic and d r ug user.

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when I told Hank to leave, he said that he had been shot and

pleaded with me to help him. I turned on my porch light and opened

the front door so that I could see him. Hank had a lot of blood on

him. I decided to help him because I felt sorry for him. I went

back into the house, put my dog in the bedroom with my children,

closed the door to that room and went outside again. Hank was still

standing in the front yard. I invited him to come into the house .

.He stumbled and fell over backwards when he tried to climb up the

porch stairs. I caught him or helped him to get up. He had to lean

, on my arm as we walked into the house. He was with me for over

three hours before he was arrested.

Very shortly after Hank was taken into custody I I heard

Officer Katie Gerhardt tell one of my curious neighbors that he

could not enter my house because it \o,as "a triple homicide crime

scene." I assumed that this meant that Hank was accused of

murdering three people. I did not understand how my house could be

a crime scene because no crime was committed there, but I feared

that the police believed that I was involved in the of fen se.

My fear of being falsely accused increased when Mc Minn and

Gerhardt told me that they believed that Hank had an accomplice and

asked me where that person was. I told th em I did not know what

they ""'er ·ng about, but they apparently did not believe me

because titl asking the same question . Gerhardt finally told me

t llat I could be cllarged with being all accessor y after tIle fact if

I did not cooperate with them . I did not understand "Illy she made

that t hr eat because I b elieve d that 1 ,,",'as cooperati n g .

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, I told my first lie when Gerhardt and McMinn » ; e p ;d(;W H
got into my house. I was afral.'d to a d '
ml.t th
at ! '\n\l
' ,Ltc
!,odh'1m nsl.. e

because I did not want to say anything that c ould later be used to
suggest tha t I offered a murderer a place to hide from the police
who were trying t o arrest him. I told Mc Minn and Ge rhardt that he
ente red the h ouse without my consent and I did not know how.

Gerhardt said that she did not believe me . She asked me why I d i d
,n ot try to leave my house and get h e lp. I told her that I did not
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want to l eav e my kids alone with Hank. She warned me that I could
, be c harged with a crime if I invit ed him i n to my house knowing that
the police were trying to arrest him.
My written statement to Ogle left the fa l se impression that I

only treated Hank ' s wound ed h and b ecause he e ntered my house

against my wi ll and threatened to k i l l me. I di d n ot admit that T

invi ted him in because I was afraid t h at the p o l ice wo u ld a rres t me

for he l ping a wanted man .

I falsely c laimed in my written statement that Hank warned me,

"don't ca l l any one or I'll kill . you" wh e n he saw me pick up the

telephone . Hank did tell me not to ca l l a ny o n e , but he did not

threaten to kill me .

I falsely claimed in my wri tte n state ment th at I believed that

Hank wa s capabl e of killi n g me becau se of h is i nt o x icated

condi ti on. The truth i s tha t h e was much too dru n k o r high on d rug s

t o physical ly car ry out s u ch a threat. I k now what Hank is c apab le

o f do ing whe n he is int oxicated because I s aw him ; .n ~th aY)jo~i..t-ion

:;t:;.;J,t, }?1y' 01"/1//0, </ «/~\,)
many times, Wh e n he arr ived at my hou se, he was too i n t ox i c ated to

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strangle Twila Busby until her neck broke, repeatedly hit her ,n
the head with an ax and precisely stab her two sons to death .
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I also lied in my written statement about two small detail s

because I did not wa nt the police to believe that I v o l u nt aril y did

anything for Hank. I said that Hank took his shirt off a nd h u n g i t

over a chair in my living ro om. The truth is t hat I help e d h i m

remove his shi rt and I p ut it on the chai r. I said that Hank washed

.blood of f of his· watch. The truth is tha t I wa s h ed off t h e blood.

When I de s cribed in my written statement how Hank said that h e

, thought that he tried t o ki ck Twila to d eat h because h e found h er

in bed wit h her ex - husband, I left out the fa ct t h at Hank ga v e me

a ridiculous description of Twila's ex-husba n d t h a t did not fit him

at al l. Thi s is on e of the reasons why I believe t ha t his stateme nt

about kicking Twila to death wa s just a drunk en fantasy like t he

ot he r violent s t o ries tha t he t o ld me to explain how he was

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i njur e d.

I informed Ogl e tha t I did not want my daughter, Jessica, to

be a witnes s be cause it would be a traumat i c e xperi e nce f o r h e r .

Ogle told me th at i t was up to the dist r i c t atto r ney . I ~ as very

upset when I received a letter fr om John Ma nn notifyi ng me th at

Jessica wou ld be s ubpoen ae d as a witnes s . I s ent her out of to wn to

stay wit h a re la t ive sho rtly af ter I re c eive d t ila t l etter. McMilln
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warned me th at I wo uld be ar res ted if I d id n ot tell him wh e re s he

was . I tol d Mc Minn th at it was hi s j ob to fin d his witnesses- not

mi n e, Mc Min n fi n a lly prom ised t hat my daughter wo uld n ot hav e to be

a wit n ess if I t esti fi ed "as i nstructed by J ohn Mann, "

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When I arrived in Ft. Worth for the trial, Gerhardt and McMinn '
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to ld me that I could .not go anywhe r e or do any t hing without a
police officer or pro secutor b e ing pre s e nt. I was n ot a llowed to

eat a l on e in a rest aurant, rec e ive vi sitors at my hote l,

make 9
..7/>15' 5 T tV c
pho n e cal or :5~ke a walk by mys e lf . Ge rha rdt e v en t ried to sleep--

S-k6?£~c~om ~ I relt like a prisone r. I wa s t ol d that a l l o f thi s wa s

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done for my own saf ety, but that expl anation made no sense b ecause
Ha nk wa s in jail and n o one had threatened me . I was more afra id of
the cops who were s u p p osedly protecting me t h an I was of Hank on
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the night of the murder.
Sho r tly before I test ifie d a t the tria l , Assistant District

Attorney Tr acy Bla des gave me a document in a clear plastic folder

and told me, "read i t. This is your part. 11 Sh e expla i ned t h at the
document was a "condensed" ve r sion of my sta t ement to Ogle. It
placed several things that I said way out o f conte xt, but I cannot
re c all wha t they we r e .

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testimony was go Lng to be helpful to the State. I did not
und ers tand how anything t hat Ha nk did or said at my house on the
night of the murders could possibly show whether he was gui l ty or
innocent.
When Mann asked me h ow Ha nk was able to get in to my house
after I told him to leave , I falsely a nswered, "I don't even know."
I repea t ed what I told the police o n the night of the murder

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 because I was afraid to admit that I lie d to them and I did not
believe that the truth could make a diff e r e n c e . I lied again f o r
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the same reason when Mann asked me wha t Ha nk did with his shi rt and

wat c h.
1. fal s ely testified tha t Hank wa lked to th e bathroom by
hims elf when I went to make a telephon e call becaus e I wa s stil l

af ra id to admi t that I did any th ing t o h elp h i m. The truth is that

I had t o help Hank walk from th e k i t c h en to t he b a throom be f ore I
went t o ma k e t he call because h e was so i n tox i c at ed tha t h e c oul d
not keep h is bal ance .
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I falsel y tes tifi ed t hat Hank warn ed me that he wou ld k i ll me
if I t r ied to c all a nyon e . I l ied to t he jury a bou t t ha t t h r eat

because I said t he same thi ng in my wr i tt e n statemen t to Ogle and

I was afra i d to a dmit th at it was fa lse . The t ru th is that Hank
told me not to make a call without threatening to k i ll me.

I ga v e t he j ur y the f alse impres s ion that Ha nk I s statements

about f indi ng Twila in b e d wi t h her e x - husband a n d ki lling h e r were
not re l a t ed to each other. The t rut h is t h at Ha nk said that he
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thought he trie d t o kic k Twila t o d eat h because he f ou nd he r in b ed
with her e x - husband. The questions th at John Ma nn asked me did not
al I a . . ' me to explain th i s to t he j ury.

I falsely testif i e d th at out o f all of t he stories tha t Ha nk

to l d me on t he night of t he murder, the only one tha t he made me

s wea r'" not to r e veal was h i s story a b out ki cking Twila to death. The
tru tll i s t h a t he s wo re me t o secl-e cy or made me p romi se no t t.o tell
eac h time that he gave me a difrerent story about what happened . I

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am n ot sure why I lied about this on ~he witness stand, but I may

have repeated what was in the condensed version of my statement to

Ogle that Blades prepared for me. It is also poss ible that I gave

the answer that I thought John Mann wanted to hear.

After Hank was sentenced to death, I read news stories about

the trial and began to understand the impo rtan ce o f my testimony.

The lies that I told to protect myself mad e it appear as if Hank

broke into my house, held me hostage and confessed to the murders.

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Th e t r uth 's t hat I invited a harmle ss drunk into my house and

, listened to th ree h o urs of mean i ngl ess gibberis h. I have no idea

who killed Twila Busby and her sons, but I pray that I get another
chance to t e l l t he truth a bout what I d o know to a jury because I
do not wa n t t o be r esponsible f o r th e execution of a man who may b e
in nocen t .

Sworn before me on this the 27st,.

day of September , 1997

ARY PUBLIC