The Texas Forensic Science Commission and the Willingham Case

The Texas Forensic Science Commission

was formed in 2005 by the state legislature and investigates complaints of forensic negligence or misconduct in Texas criminal cases.

In 2006, the Innocence Project formally submitted the Cameron Todd Willingham case to the TFSC, asking the empowered state entity to launch a full investigation. Along with the Willingham case, the Innocence Project submitted information about another arson case in Texas where identical evidence was used to send another man to death row. In that case,

Ernest Willis was exonerated

and freed from prison because the forensic evidence was not valid.

In 2008, the Texas Forensic Science Commission agreed to investigate the case. The panel’s review has been interrupted several times over the last two years, however, and continues today.

The commission hired renowned arson expert Craig Beyler to review all of the evidence in the case. In August 2009,

Beyler submitted his report

to the commission, finding that the forensic analysis used to convict Willingham was wrong – and that experts who testified at Willingham’s trial should have known it was wrong at the time.

An investigative report in the September 7, 2009, issue of the New Yorker

deconstructs every facet of the state’s case against Willingham. The 16,000-word article by David Grann shows that all of the evidence used against Willingham was invalid, including the forensic analysis, the informant’s testimony, other witness testimony and additional circumstantial evidence.

Members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission said in 2009 that they intended to hear testimony from Beyler in October 2009 and produce a report on the Willingham case in early 2010. A hearing scheduled for October 3, 2009,

was abruptly cancelled

, however, when Gov. Rick Perry announced October 1 that he was replacing three members of the commission whose terms had expired. As of October 7, 2009, the commission’s review of the Willingham case

was on hold

, according to new chairman John Bradley, the Williamson County District Attorney.

On October 22, 2010, a group of more than 400 people from 120 towns across Texas sent a letter to Bradley urging him to ensure that the Forensic Science Commission continues its review of the arson evidence in the case. Among those signing the letter were 15 Texans who were wrongfully convicted and later exonerated through DNA testing.

On November 10, 2010, at a special meeting of the Texas State Senate Criminal Justice Committe, representatives questioned on the status of the Forensic Science Commission’s work and plans for continuing ongoing investigations.

Watch Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck’s comments at a press conference following the hearing

.

On April 15, 2011, the Texas Forensic Science Commission

issued its report

on the convictions of Cameron Todd Willingham and Ernest Willis, recommending more education and training for fire investigators and implementing procedures to review old cases. In July 2011, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott

issued an opinion

in response to questions from the commission about jurisdiction and authority. The opinion prohibits the commission from investigating “specific items of evidence that were tested or offered into evidence prior to” September 1, 2005. Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck

responded

that the “the reasoning of the opinion is wrong and contrary to the clear intention of the legislature when it formed the Commission.”

Visit the TFSC website

for information on upcoming meetings.