OT fry 'em all! every last one of 'em!
- From: gk1@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: 2 May 2006 19:54:24 -0700
even if this guy was innocent of THIS crime, he probably was guilty of
something else.
and i bet frying this dude prevented dozens of other potential arsons,
so even if he was innocent it was worth it.
G
from the chicago tribune:
Man executed on disproven evidence, experts say
By Maurice Possley
Tribune staff reporter
May 2, 2006, 6:26 PM CDT
Four of the nation's top arson experts have concluded that the state of
Texas executed a man in 2004 based on scientifically invalid evidence,
and on Tuesday they called for an official reinvestigation of the case.
In their report, the experts, assembled by the Innocence Project, a
non-profit organization responsible for scores of exonerations,
concluded that the conviction and 2004 execution of Cameron Todd
Willingham for the arson-murders of his three daughters was based on
interpretations by fire investigators that have been scientifically
disproved.
"The whole system has broken down," Barry Scheck, co-founder and
director of the Innocence Project, said at a news conference at the
state Capitol in Austin. "It's time to find out whether Texas has
executed an innocent man."
The experts were asked to perform an independent review of the evidence
after an investigation by the Tribune that showed Willingham had been
found guilty on arson theories that have been repudiated by scientific
advances. In fact, many of the theories were simply lore that had been
handed down by generations of arson investigators who relied upon what
they were told.
The report's conclusions match the findings of the Tribune, published
in December 2004. The newspaper began investigating the Willingham case
following an October 2004 series, "Forensics Under the Microscope,"
which examined the use of forensics in the courtroom, including the
continued use of disproved arson theories to obtain convictions.
In strong language harshly critical of the investigation of the 1991
fire in Corsicana, southeast of Dallas, the report said evidence
examined in the Willingham case and "relied upon by fire investigators"
was the type of evidence "routinely created by accidental fires."
Since the death penalty was reinstated in the U.S. in 1976, 1,020 men
and women have been executed, with more than one-third-362-in
Texas.
Although more than 100 people have been released from Death Row in the
U.S. during that time, there has been no official conclusion by any
government authority that an innocent person has been executed.
The arson report singled out the testimony at Willingham's trial of
Manuel Vasquez, a deputy state fire marshal, who said he found numerous
indicators in the debris that he interpreted as evidence Willingham
intentionally set the fire.
"Each and every one of the 'indicators' listed by Mr. Vasquez means
absolutely nothing," the report states.
Scheck said copies of the report have been sent to the nine members of
the Texas Forensic Science Commission with a request that the
commission open an investigation of Willingham's prosecution. The
commission was created last year to investigate allegations of
"professional negligence or misconduct that would substantially affect
the integrity of the results of a forensic analysis."
In addition to the Willingham case, the report examined the arson
prosecution of Ernest Ray Willis, who was charged with the
arson-murders of two women in Iraan, Texas, on June 11, 1986.
In 2004-a few months after Willingham was executed-Willis, who was
facing the death penalty in a retrial of his case, was released and the
case dismissed after arson experts concluded there was no evidence the
fire was intentionally set.
The report assessing the two cases notes that even though the
interpretations of the physical evidence in the Willis case were the
same as in the Willingham case, authorities in Texas have declined to
say that Willingham was wrongly convicted and executed. The report said
the "disparity of the outcomes in these two cases warrants a closer
inspection."
In the letter to the commission, Scheck said, "Willis cannot be found
'actually innocent' and Willingham executed based on the same
scientific evidence."
Further, Scheck asked that the commission commence a systemwide review
of arson cases, saying Texas leads the nation in the percentage of
people incarcerated for arson convictions, many of which undoubtedly
are based on the same sort of invalid science cited in the Willis and
Willingham cases.
Two days before Christmas in 1991, Willingham's wife left their house
to pay bills and shop for Christmas gifts for their 1-year-old twins,
Karmon and Kameron, and their 2-year-old daughter, Amber.
Willingham testified that he was awakened about an hour later by
Amber's cries for help and found the house full of smoke. Willingham
escaped, but the children did not.
At Willingham's trial, Vasquez and Corsicana Assistant Fire Chief Doug
Fogg testified that the fire was deliberately set and pointed to
numerous "indicators" as proof. One of those indicators was "crazed
glass," a phenomenon they said was caused by a fire that burned so hot
and so fast that it could only have been caused by an accelerant.
But the new report notes that scientific testing has established that
crazed glass can be caused by spraying water on hot glass; in effect,
the act of extinguishing a fire was being used to prove that the fire
was an arson.
When he was strapped to the gurney to be executed, Willingham said, "I
am an innocent man, convicted of a crime I did not commit."
The report urges authorities to examine other cases as well.
"To the extent that there are still investigators in Texas and
elsewhere, who [misinterpret fires], there will continue to be serious
miscarriages of justice."
"In the cases of individuals already convicted using what is now known
to be bad science [or no science], the courts should treat the 'new'
knowledge as 'newly discovered evidence,'" the report states. "It was
resistance to this concept that allowed the state to execute Mr.
Willingham, even though it was known that the evidence used to convict
him was invalid."
One of the four authors of the report, John Lentini, a private fire
investigator who first examined the Willingham case at the request of
the Tribune, is a leading proponent of grounding arson investigation in
proven science.
The report calls upon the criminal justice system to require arson
investigators to have backgrounds in the science of fire and that
criminal defense lawyers be afforded money to hire independent fire
investigators. It also urges that participants in the justice system,
particularly prosecutors, who decide whether to bring charges, be
educated about scientific advances in fire investigation.
"There is no crime other than homicide by arson for which a person can
be sent to Death Row based on the unsupported opinion of someone who
received all of his training 'on the job,'" the report states.
At the news conference, Lentini said the analysis of the testimony by
fire investigators in the Willis and Willingham cases shows that "over
and over and over again, they repeated the mythology. ... These guys
didn't know what they were talking about."
One member of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, Austin attorney
Sam Bassett, said Tuesday that the panel has yet to schedule its first
meeting and is awaiting legislative approval for funding for travel and
other expenses.
He said that based upon reading some of the report, "certainly this is
a potential nightmare scenario that everybody talks about-the
execution of an innocent person. I would hope that this would merit our
attention."
Eugenia Willingham, Willingham's stepmother, who lives in Ardmore,
Okla., attended the news conference as well. She wept as she said, "We
want the truth to be known in Todd's case. We want to keep this from
ever happening again."
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
.
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