Cite as: 506 U. S. 390 (1993)
O'Connor, J., concurring
this is read word for word over the media, I will turn myself in . . . .'" Ante, at 395, n. 1.
There can be no doubt about the letter's meaning. When the police attempted to interrogate petitioner about the killings, he told them " 'it was all in the letter' " and suggested that, if "they wanted to know what happened," they should read it. Herrera v. State, 682 S. W. 2d 313, 317 (Tex. Crim. App. 1984), cert. denied, 471 U. S. 1131 (1985).
Now, 10 years after being convicted on that seemingly dispositive evidence, petitioner has collected four affidavits that he claims prove his innocence. The affidavits allege that petitioner's brother, who died six years before the affidavits were executed, was the killer—and that petitioner was not. Affidavits like these are not uncommon, especially in capital cases. They are an unfortunate although understandable occurrence. It seems that, when a prisoner's life is at stake, he often can find someone new to vouch for him. Experience has shown, however, that such affidavits are to be treated with a fair degree of skepticism.
These affidavits are no exception. They are suspect, produced as they were at the 11th hour with no reasonable explanation for the nearly decade-long delay. See ante, at 417-418. Worse, they conveniently blame a dead man— someone who will neither contest the allegations nor suffer punishment as a result of them. Moreover, they contradict each other on numerous points, including the number of people in the murderer's car and the direction it was heading when Officer Carrisalez stopped it. Ante, at 418. They do not even agree on when Officer Rucker was killed. According to one, Rucker was killed when he and the murderer met at a highway rest stop. Brief for Petitioner 30. In contrast, another asserts that there was an initial meeting, but that Rucker was not killed until afterward when he "pulled [the murderer's car] over" on the highway. Id., at 27. And the affidavits are inconsistent with petitioner's own admission of guilt. The affidavits blame petitioner's deceased
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