Innocence Blog

Friday Roundup: The Devil and DNA

Posted: September 18, 2009 6:26 pm

This week saw more news in the wrongful execution case of Cameron Todd Willingham: the trial prosecutor (who is now a judge) alleged in an interview with Nightline that Willingham was a devil worshipper and that this makes it “more likely” that Willingham set the fire that killed his children. Watch the video on YouTube.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry was in Washington, D.C., where he broke his silence on the Willingham case, saying that he had reviewed the case in 2004 and allowed the execution to go forward. Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck responded: "Governor Perry refuses to face the fact that Texas executed an innocent man on his watch."

Meanwhile, case work continued around the country by the Innocence Project and our many partners and sister organizations.

The University of Michigan Innocence Clinic said this week that new evidence cleared Karl Vinson of a 1986 child rape, and accused the Detroit Prosecutor’s Office of dragging its feet.

Lawyers in Connecticut presented evidence pointing to the real perpetrator in the cases of Ron Taylor and George Gould, who say they were wrongfully convicted of a 1993 murder.

A new University of Buffalo study found serious problems with bite mark evidence.

Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins spoke Thursday at Oklahoma State University about his creation of the country’s first Conviction Integrity Unit.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune profiled John Thompson, who was cleared after spending 14 years on Louisiana’s death row. Thompson is the founder of Resurrection After Exoneration, which provides housing and other services for the exonerated.