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Texas State Forensic Science Commission to review case of possible wrongful execution
Posted: August 18, 2008 5:00 pm
The Texas State Forensic Science Commission agreed Friday to investigate possible negligence or misconduct in the Cameron Todd Willingham case. Willingham was executed in 2004 for allegedly murdering his three young children by setting his Corsicana home on fire in 1991. An independent panel of arson experts subsequently found that the fire was not arson. In May 2006, the Innocence Project formally submitted a request to the Commission to review arson convictions statewide—particularly in the Willingham case. The Commission’s investigation marks the first time that a state has reviewed a possible wrongful execution.
Read the Houston Chronicle article about the investigation here.
Read the Associated Press article here.
Read additional coverage here and here.
Tags: Texas, Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Hires Expert to Investigate Arson Conviction
Posted: January 27, 2009 4:43 pm
Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004 in Texas for allegedly setting a fire that killed his three young daughters. He claimed to be innocent throughout, saying just seconds before being executed: “I am an innocent man convicted of a crime I did not commit.”
An independent blue-ribbon panel of arson experts found in 2006 that the fire in Willingham’s case was not arson and noted substantial problems with the methods used in investigating the crime. Following the panel’s report, the Innocence Project submitted the case to the Texas Forensic Science Commission, requesting a thorough review. As a result of that request, Texas has hired Maryland arson expert Craig Beyler to review the case. He will determine if the arson finding can be substantiated and whether analysts at the time of Willingham’s trial should have known that the fire was not arson.
"It's essential that this matter is resolved for the sake of those who have been wrongly convicted by unreliable arson evidence, as well as those under investigation in new arson cases," said (Barry) Scheck, the Innocence Project's co-director.
Read the full story here. (01/25/09, Chicago Tribune)
Read more about the Willingham case here.
Download the blue-ribbon panel’s report.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Friday Roundup: Fighting Injustice and Reforming Forensics
Posted: July 24, 2009 6:10 pm
Here's this week's roundup of news on innocence, injustice and forensic science:
The Texas Forensic Science Commission met today in Houston to plan next steps in the panel’s review of the arson convictions of Cameron Todd Willingham and Ernest Willis. Grits for Breakfast has more.
Attorneys for Illinois prisoner Michael Tillman are seeking a new trial based on allegations that Tillman falsely confessed after being tortured by Chicago Police officers under the command of former Detective Jon Burge.
A Michigan judge this week ordered a new trial for Lorinda Swain, who has served eight years in prison for a crime she says she didn’t commit. Swain was convicted in 2002 of sexually assaulting her 13-year-old son, who has since recanted statements he made against her. Attorneys and students at the University of Michigan Law School Innocence Clinic worked on the case.
Also in Michigan, prosecutors opposed a new trial for Davontae Sanford – who was convicted at age 17 of a murder he says he didn’t commit – despite a confession from another man who says he committed the crime.
The Governors of Massachusetts and Virginia are proposing new state laws to adjust the ways courts handle forensic evidence in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts.
For more forensic news, visit the Just Science Coalition website.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Groundbreaking New Reports Show Texas Executed an Innocent Man
Posted: August 31, 2009 12:06 pm
An exhaustive report released today by the New Yorker finds that Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004 in Texas for murders he didn't commit. The report follows years of investigation into the case, and concludes that the arson analysis used to convict Willingham was wrong — and that none of the other evidence used to convict Willingham was valid.
The findings in the New Yorker report and other evaluations of Willingham's case have brought renewed calls for a moratorium on executions and comprehensive reforms of forensic science in the United States.
Read the full New Yorker story here.
Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck writes in the Huffington Post today that this case should lead to sweeping improvements in the forensic sciences:
Whether our criminal justice system has executed an innocent man should no longer be an open question. We don't know how often it happens, but we know it has happened. Cameron Todd Willingham's case proves that.Today's 16,000-word New Yorker story comes a week after independent arson expert Craig Beyler submitted his report to the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which is conducting a review of Willingham's conviction. Beyler, like a panel of national arson experts assembled three years ago by the Innocence Project, found that the science used to convict Willingham was wrong. The Texas Forensic Science Commission announced that it is reviewing Beyler's report and will release its conclusions next year.
The focus turns to how we can stop it from happening again. As long as our system of justice makes mistakes -- including the ultimate mistake -- we cannot continue executing people.
Today's Coverage of The Case:
Innocence Project Press Release: New Report Shows that Cameron Todd Willingham, Executed in Texas in 2004, Was Innocent
New Yorker: Trial by Fire
New Yorker Video: Flashover
Huffington Post: Innocent, But Executed
New York Times Editorial: Questions About an Execution
Background
Expert Panel Review of Willingham and Willis convictions.
Background on the cases of 17 people exonerated through DNA testing after spending years on death row.
Understand the Causes: Unvalidated or Improper Forensic Science
The Just Science Coalition: Supporting Forensic Reform to Improve the Accuracy of the Criminal Justice System
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Death Penalty, Cameron Todd Willingham
Join New Yorker's David Grann in a Live Online Chat
Posted: September 2, 2009 1:40 pm
David Grann’s thorough investigation of the Cameron Todd Willingham case in this week’s New Yorker is the strongest case on record that an innocent person has been executed since capital punishment was reinstated. The story has also heightened attention and dialogue about the death penalty and the reliability of forensic science.
Grann investigated the story for nearly a year, and he will take questions from readers today about the process, the case and what it means in the context of the criminal justice system today.
UPDATE: Read the transcript of the live chat here.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Arson and Bad Science
Posted: September 14, 2009 4:36 am
The Dallas Morning News yesterday investigated the forensics behind arson convictions and asked – in the wake of the Cameron Todd Willingham case -- whether there might be others in prison based on false arson analysis.
Although arson investigation techniques have improved significantly over the last two decades and become more scientifically supported, attorneys and scientists say they still see arson myths perpetuated inside and outside of courtrooms.
"Accidental fires being turned into arsons is going on all the time," said Gerald Hurst, a Cambridge-educated chemist who was the chief scientist for the nation's largest explosive manufacturer.Cameron Todd Willingham was sentenced to death in Texas in 1992 for allegedly setting a fire that killed his three young children. Many of the investigation techniques used by arson experts at Willingham’s trial had been debunked years before he was convicted, but this didn’t come to light at his trial. Although evidence that Willingham’s conviction was based on flawed arson analysis was received by the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole before his schedule execution date, the board did not act on the report and he was executed in 2004.
An exhaustive new report in New Yorker deconstructs every piece of evidence at Willingham’s trial and shows that he was innocent. Learn more about Willingham’s case and read the full New Yorker story here.
There are 742 people in prison in Texas for arson, and about 275 are convicted of the crime each year. How many of these convictions are based on flawed science?
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
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.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Governor Replaces Forensic Examiners
Posted: October 1, 2009 7:46 am
In a troubling move, Texas Gov. Rick Perry yesterday replaced three members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which was set to hold a public hearing Friday to review a report on arson evidence in the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. As a result of the changes, Friday’s hearing has been cancelled.
Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck said: “On Friday, the Commission was supposed to consider the expert’s report, which strongly indicates that the arson evidence underlying Willingham’s conviction and execution was completely unreliable and would raise serious concerns that Texas has executed this innocent person. Rather than let this important hearing go forward and the report be heard, the Governor fires the independent Chairman and two other members of this Commission. It’s like Nixon firing Archibald Cox to avoid turning over the Watergate tapes.”
Read media coverage of the move and more here.
Read more on the Willingham case.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Another Use of Arson Science, and More Twists in a Texas Case
Posted: October 15, 2009 4:15 pm
The Cameron Todd Willingham case continued to make headlines this week, with comments from Gov. Rick Perry, a new statement from an arson expert and news about challenges to arson science made by the governor’s former general counsel.
Willingham was executed in 2004 for allegedly setting a fire that killed his three children. He proclaimed his innocence throughout the ordeal and several expert reviews have found that Willingham was convicted based on faulty arson science. Read more background on the case here.
Perry spoke out about the case yesterday, saying Willingham was a “monster” and a “bad man.” Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck responded by saying that the only way to move forward on the case is to empower the forensic science commission to continue its work: “The Texas Forensic Science Commission needs to finish the investigation that it started more than two years ago.”
Houston Chronicle columnist Lisa Falkenberg asked: “What’s [Perry’s] problem with a science commission that investigates science?”
The expert who prepared a report for the commission said Wednesday that Perry has a conflict of interest in the case because he approved Willingham’s execution, and that his conduct has been “unethical and injurious to the cause of justice."
And the blog DogCanyon reported yesterday that David Medina, Perry’s former general counsel, was indicted in 2007 for allegedly burning his own home, but was cleared when he challenged similar aspects of arson science in his defense.
More on the case this week from NPR and the Dallas Morning News.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Controversy Widens in Texas Case
Posted: October 20, 2009 5:54 pm
The Cameron Todd Willingham case continues to draw attention in Texas and around the world, with a former Texas governor and the original prosecutor in the Willingham case both questioning the reliability of the state’s death penalty, and opinion leaders urging a full investigation of the case.
As regular readers know, Willingham was executed in 2004 for allegedly setting a fire that killed his three young children, despite evidence of his innocence. Read the full details of the case here.
On Sunday, former Texas Gov. Mark White cited the Willingham case and told two Texas newspapers that “there is a very strong case to be made for a review of our death penalty statutes and even look at the possibility of having life without parole so we don’t look up one day and determine that we as the State of Texas have executed someone who is in fact innocent.”
And John Jackson, the original prosecutor in the case and now a state judge, told the Austin American-Statesman recently that he wonders if Texas has "appropriate means of last-minute review of newly discovered evidence."
"The way things are done in Texas, I'm not completely certain that all last-minute requests for either clemency or stay of execution get the scrutiny they deserve," Jackson said.
More coverage of the case this week:
Chicago Tribune: Statements by Gov. Rick Perry and Others Don’t Align with Facts
New York Times: Controversy Builds in Texas Over an Execution
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
More Than 400 Texans Urge Forensics Panel to Continue its Work
Posted: October 22, 2009 2:06 pm
More than 400 Texans from 125 cities and towns across the state today urged a state panel to continue its work of reviewing the forensic evidence used in the Cameron Todd Willingham arson case.
A letter sent today to John Bradley, the newly-appointed chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Committee, urged him to ensure that the panel continues its work of evaluating forensic evidence in state cases. Joining hundreds of concerned citizens were 15 people exonerated through DNA testing after serving years in Texas prisons for crimes they didn’t commit.
Bradley will testify November 10 before a special hearing of the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee. He is expected to answer legislators’ questions about the status of the Forensic Science Commission’s work and plans for continuing ongoing investigations.
“Undue delay -- much less a complete change of course -- seems destined to sweep this investigation, Texans' faith in forensic evidence and our criminal justice system, maybe even jurors' willingness to convict, away with it,” today’s letter reads, in part.
Read the full letter here. (PDF)
Get background on the Willingham case, and an update on recent developments , on our Willingham resource page.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Report: Forensic Board Replacements Weren't Routine
Posted: October 27, 2009 6:08 pm
A new report from Texas Tribune and Texas Weekly finds that Gov. Rick Perry’s move last month to replace several members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission wasn’t a standard practice, as Perry has claimed.
Perry said he removed the forensic commissioners because their terms had expired, suggesting it was a coincidence that the replacements came 48 hours before the panel’s scheduled meeting to consider the arson evidence in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham.
But the Texas Tribune / Texas Weekly report, compiled from documents obtained through the state’s open-records act, shows that many appointed commissioners in the state are not replaced when their terms expire. At the time Perry removed the forensic commissioners, more than 100 other appointees around the state were serving past their terms. They averaged 100 days past their expiration date, and some were more than a year past expiration, records show.
"These numbers are disturbing because, contrary to what Gov. Perry said, it was not a regular practice to remove these commissioners so quickly and on the verge of a very important hearing," Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck told reporters. "It's more evidence that Gov. Perry's actions were not to get to the scientific truth of the matter but were self serving and calculated for political advantage."
Another story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram today examines the specifics of the arson investigation and evidence in the case, from flashover to puddle patterns to crazed glass, and finds that outdated practices were used to investigate the fire that killed Willingham’s daughters. Investigators used several “indicators” to seem the fire arson, and scientists no longer use those techniques because they are inaccurate and unreliable.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Willingham's Stepmom: It's Time for Truth
Posted: October 30, 2009 4:06 pm
An op-ed in today’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram from the stepmother of Cameron Todd Willingham calls for the state to continue seeking answers in the case of her stepson, who was executed in Texas in 2004 despite evidence of his innocence. For more on Willingham’s case, visit our Willingham Resource Center.
Another article in the Houston Chronicle today by Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck and Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis urges the Texas Forensic Science Commission to continue its work of investigating allegations of forensic negligence of misconduct.
Eugenia Willingham writes that there are many unanswered questions in her stepson’s case, and that only rational, independent review can address them. She writes:
My family has lost three beautiful little children and their loving father. We want answers. We want to know how the justice system got so badly off-track in Todd’s case, and we want to know how many other families have been devastated by erroneous evidence in arson cases in Texas.Meanwhile, Barry Scheck and State Senator Rodney Ellis (who also serves as the Innocence Project Board Chairman) write that it’s important for the Texas Forensic Science Commission (TFSC) to stick to its mission of investigating forensic issues -- not just in Willingham’s case, but in many others as well. At a hearing on Nov. 10, the new chairman of the TFSC will update the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee on his plans for continuing the commission's work. Scheck and Ellis write:
Attacking my son won’t change the troubling lack of evidence in his case, and it won’t answer questions that refuse to go away.
Read Eugenia Willingham’s op-ed. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10/30/09)
As we turn toward the next steps for the commission, it's critical to remember why the commission was created — and what the investigation of the Willingham case and other arson cases is really about. The commission was never investigating whether an innocent man had been executed; that's not its role. Instead, the commission is trying to determine whether the forensic analysts in the Willingham case negligently used unreliable methods, whether there are other past cases where unreliable arson analysis was employed, and what, if any, corrective action should be taken.
Read their full op-ed. (Houston Chronicle, 10/30/09)
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Senators Question Commission Chair in Texas
Posted: November 10, 2009 6:10 pm
The new chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission told members of the a Texas Senate Committee today that he intends to continue the commission’s investigation of the Cameron Todd Willingham case, but refused to give a timeline for the work.
John Bradley, who was appointed last month by Gov. Rick Perry to chair the commission, said he had not been directed to any course of action by the governor, and said he would work to maintain a tight focus on forensics in the panel’s work.
"The commission has to be very careful about the process that it develops so that we keep the focus … on forensic science and not on the criminal case," Bradley said.At a press conference after the hearing, Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck urged Bradley and the commission to return quickly to the critical questions surrounding the forensics used to convict Willingham and to forensic practices still being used in Texas courtrooms.
"We want to find out if anybody else is in prison based on junk science," he said. "It's that simple."Watch video of the complete hearing and press conference.
Read more. (Dallas Morning News, 11/10/09)
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Friday Roundup: An Arson Case Keeps the Spotlight
Posted: November 13, 2009 5:32 pm
On Tuesday, Texas Senators questioned John Bradley, the new chairman of the state Forensic Science Commission. We reported on the hearing here. Bradley said the commission would eventually continue its investigation into the arson science used to convict Willingham, who was executed in 2004, but warned that the investigation could stretch into 2011. One state Senator said the commission could emerge stronger from the attention it has received through this process.
A column by Rick Casey in the Chronicle questioned whether Bradley, a prosecutor, is the right person to lead an inquiry into scientific practices.
In an editorial yesterday, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram criticized Gov. Rick Perry for refusing to hand over the clemency report in Willingham’s case in response to a Houston Chronicle request. The Chronicle is suing the state for access to the document.
In other news, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled this week that Greg Wilhoit, who spent four years on Oklahoma’s death row before he was acquitted on retrial, has a viable legal claim against the state for his wrongful conviction.
An op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News by Kathleen Ridolfi and Maurice Possley of the Northern California Innocence Project points to prosecutorial misconduct’s high cost to taxpayers.
Brian Dugan was sentenced to death in Illinois this week for the murder of a 10-year-old girl in 1983 — a crime for which two innocent men -- Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez — spent 12 years each on death row. Read more and watch a video interview with Cruz.
Lawyers in Wisconsin are seeking a new trial for Reynold Moore, who was convicted in 1995 with five other men for allegedly committing a 1992 murder. A new book about the case — “The Monfils Conspiracy” is available here.
Death row exoneree Kirk Bloodsworth spoke this week at the University of Sioux Falls in South Dakota.
North Carolina exoneree Ronald Cotton and crime victim Jennifer Thompson-Cannino will speak November 18 at Vanderbilt University.
A new searchable Supreme Court database offers information and analysis on the court’s rulings since 1953.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
CSI: Texas
Posted: November 18, 2009 11:40 am
The controversy over the work of the Texas Forensic Science Commission is continuing after the panel's new chairman testified before a state Senate committee last week, and a new editorial in the Houston Chronicle calls on the commission to prioritize facts over politics.
John Bradley, who was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry as the panel's new chairman two days before the group was set to hear from an arson expert in the case, told Senators last week that the commission's review of the Cameron Todd Willingham arson case might stretch into 2011 or beyond. In his testimony, he questioned the motives of the Innocence Project and others in focusing on faulty forensics in the state.
At a press conference after the hearing, Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck said the Innocence Project wants to ensure that faulty forensics aren't contributing to injustice in the state. "We brought this allegation for one reason," Scheck said. "We are concerned that there may be innocent people in prison in Texas based on unreliable science."
An editorial in the Houston Chronicle questions whether Perry and Bradley are stalling the commission's work for political reasons and attacking the Innocence Project and individuals involved in the process to divert attention from the task at hand:
It doesn't take a crack CSI sleuth like the characters played by Laurence Fishburne and Marg Helgenberger to smell some foul politics emanating from the governor's office and the new leadership at the Texas Forensic Science Commission. By attacking the very people and groups that have devoted their efforts to spotlighting wrongful convictions and freeing the innocent, Chairman Bradley has certainly not allayed suspicions that his first priority in his new post is protecting the man who appointed him rather than those unjustly convicted of crimes.Read more about the Cameron Todd Willingham in our Resource Center.
Read the full editorial here. (Houston Chronicle, 11/17/09)
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Commission’s Email Policy Comes Under Fire
Posted: November 23, 2009 1:45 pm
A new policy directing Texas Forensic Science Commission members to destroy all old emails relating to the commission is being criticized by a state Senator, who says the move takes the panel “in the wrong direction.”
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram obtained an email from the commission’s staff coordinator asking all members to “delete all commission correspondence” as a matter of policy. New TFSC chairman John Bradley suggested at a November 10 hearing that he may seek to keep some of the commission’s work confidential, drawing sharp questions from lawmakers.
Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa said he disagreed with the email policy, asserting that commission members are independently appointed and should decide what email they want to keep. Keith Elkins, the director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, also questioned the policy.
"If you have a policy to routinely destroy information, that doesn’t sound transparent to me," Elkins said. "It just strikes me as being very unusual, especially in light of all the controversy surrounding that agency recently."Bradley was appointed in October by Gov. Rick Perry to take over as the commission’s chairman, just two days before the panel was scheduled to hear testimony from an independent arson expert on forensic evidence used in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004.
Read the full story here. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 11/23/09)
Learn more about the Willingham case and the work of the Texas Forensic Science Commission.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Forensics: Fingerprints, Fires and Email
Posted: December 3, 2009 3:50 pm
This week has brought more news from Texas on unvalidated forensics and questionable lab procedures, while the state commission charged with investigating allegations of forensic negligence and misconduct continues to draw questions from lawmakers and the media.
New forensic problems were reported Tuesday from the troubled Houston Police Department. An audit of fingerprint analysis cases handled by HPD found problems in half of the cases reviewed, leading officials to suggest the need for a thorough review of all fingerprint cases in the city in the last six years. The lab is also facing a two-year backlog of 6,000 cases that have yet to be examined. And Wednesday, officials announced that the investigation could result in criminal charges relating to lab misconduct.
The reports are reminiscent of problems that closed the Houston Police DNA lab in 2002 and again suspended testing in 2008. A two-year audit completed in 2007 found extensive problems in the lab stretching over several years. At least three people have been exonerated through DNA tests after serving years in prison based in part on faulty tests by the Houston lab.
Read more about the fingerprint news in Houston Chronicle stories from Tuesday and Wednesday.
And there are also new questions this week about the status of the Texas Forensic Science Commission. Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey wrote on Tuesday that he’s troubled by a new email policy announced by commission chairman John Bradley.
Chairman Bradley told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram through an e-mail, that he “simply seeks to make sure that all relevant information is saved at a single location.”The commission was in the process of reviewing evidence in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004, when Gov. Rick Perry abruptly replaced four members of the group in October. Bradley was named as the new chairman. For more on the TFSC and the Willingham case, visit our resource center.
That is patently absurd. You don't need to be a scientist to understand that deleting e-mails doesn't save them at a central location.
Read Casey’s full column. (Houston Chronicle, 12/1/09)
And a recent story in the Waco Tribune examined the impact of the Willingham case on arson investigations statewide. The story notes that the arson investigation field now relies on more scientifically sound practices, but that many convictions may have been based on the same kind of disproven methods used in the Wllingham case.
[Killeen, Texas, Fire Marshal James] Chism said the controversy over the Willingham case is a good chance for the profession to look at old investigations where questionable techniques may have been used. The industry also needs to seize the opportunity to weed out investigators who cling to outdated beliefs. It would be naive to think none exist, he said.
“Whether it is an old-school mentality or sheer laziness because it’s what they’ve always done, I still have to think those old wives’ tales are still getting play in the state of Texas,” Chism said.
Read the full story. (Waco Tribune, 11/29/09)
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Forensics Panel to Reconvene, but Arson Case Isn’t on Agenda
Posted: January 21, 2010 5:40 pm
The work of the Texas Forensic Science Commission was delayed last year when Gov. Rick Perry suddenly replaced several panel members days before a key meeting was to be held. The commission is now scheduled to meet again on January 29, but the controversial case of Cameron Todd Willingham is not on the agenda.
New commission chair John Bradley said he wants to focus first on commission procedures, but the Innocence Project and the former panel chairman said the group’s work has been delayed too long. Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck told the Associated Press that the January 29 agenda “deflects attention from what everybody wants answered" and former commission chairman Sam Bassett said the panel is "unnecessarily delaying the investigations we had going."
The commission was scheduled to hear in October from an arson expert on evidence in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 despite strong evidence of his innocence. Before the October meeting could be held, however, Gov. Perry replaced Basset and three other commission members. The group hasn’t met since then.
Visit the Texas Forensic Science Commission website to download the full agenda for the January 29 meeting in Harlingen, Texas.
We hope to broadcast the meeting live on the Internet, check the Innocence Blog next week for details.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Watch Live: Texas Forensic Science Commission Meeting
Posted: January 29, 2010 10:10 am
The Texas Forensic Science Commission is meeting today in Harlingen, Texas, to discuss the committee's procedures on handling allegations of forensic negligence and misconduct in the state. This is the group's first meeting in several months, and although it had planned to address the controversial Cameron Todd Willingham case in October, that case is not on today's agenda.
The Innocence Project is streaming today's meeting live online. Watch here from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CST.
Learn more about the Willingham case and the commission's work.
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Cameron Todd Willingham
Prestigious Award for Texas Arson Story
Posted: February 16, 2010 6:10 pm
The George Polk Award for Magazine Reporting was given today to New Yorker reporter David Grann for his story on the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham in Texas. The Polk Awards, given annually by Long Island University, are among the most prestigious journalism awards in the United States.
Grann wrote about the questionable arson evidence used to convict Willingham and the mounting signs of his innocence presented to Texas Gov. Rick Perry before Willingham was executed in 2004. The case is under review by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which met last month for the first time since Gov. Perry suddenly replaced four members in October.
Read Grann’s story: “Trial by Fire.”
A New York Times story yesterday cited the Willingham case as one in which media organizations have invested enormous resources in pursuit of an important story despite a downturn in the industry. In addition to Grann's in-depth story, the Houston Chronicle filed a freedom of information lawsuit seeking access to a clemncy report on the Willingham case.
“The Willingham story took months and a lot of money,” Grann told the Times. “I had an employer who backed me to the hilt. It just demonstrated an enormous commitment on their part.”
Visit our Willingham resource page for background and media coverage on the Texas Forensic Science Commission and the Willingham case.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Commission Set To Discuss Arson Cases Friday
Posted: April 22, 2010 3:00 pm
The Willingham case was not discussed when the commission met in January, but it is on the agenda for Friday’s meeting.
The Texas Forensic Science Commission was created by the Texas Legislature in 2005 for the purpose of investigating allegations of negligence or misconduct that would significantly affect the results of forensic analysis. The Innocence Project formally asked the commission to investigate the Willingham and Willis cases in 2006. That request specifically asked the commission to determine whether there was negligence or misconduct in the forensic analysis that initially deemed the fire arson and – importantly – to determine whether other arson convictions in Texas may have been based on the same kind of unreliable forensic analysis.
In 2008, the Texas Forensic Science Commission agreed to investigate the case. 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.
For full background on the Willingham case, see the Innocence Project’s Resource Center here.
For the full meeting agenda, click here.
You can view live video from the meeting on the Innocence Project’s website here.
Tags: Texas, Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Forensic Science Commission Expands Willingham Panel
Posted: April 23, 2010 1:45 pm
Kerrigan said she'd serve on the subcommittee if it had more than three members. The commission voted to include both her and Evans as part of a four-member subcommittee.
As Bradley steered the meeting toward other business, he said: "If one were to read public materials about the Forensic Science Commission, one might jump to the conclusion that this commission was formed for the purpose of investigating one case and discussing it endlessly. That would be inaccurate."
Read the full post from the Austin American-Statesman here.
In fact, Willingham’s case was initially set to be heard by the commission in October. But Gov. Rick Perry abruptly removed the commission’s chair and installed John Bradley, who in turn has continued to delay the investigation by forming subcommittees and spending months reviewing commission procedures.
The commission meeting will continue for several hours and is being live-blogged by several media outlets, including the Austin American-Statesman (linked above) and the Dallas Morning News here.
Read more news and editorial coverage of today’s meeting.
Dallas Morning News 4/23/10
Texas Tribune 4/23/10
Dallas Morning News Editorial 4/22/10
Austin American-Statesman 4/21/10
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Forensic Panel Moves Slowly, Takes Willingham Case Behind Closed Doors
Posted: April 26, 2010 7:35 pm
The meeting received wide-ranging media coverage in Texas over the weekend, a sample of coverage is below:
Dallas Morning News live blog of the meeting
Houston Chronicle: State Panel Revives Review of Arson Inquiry
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Four-Member Panel to Discuss Willingham Case in Private
Dallas Morning News: Forensic Panel to Investigate Questionable Forensic Science
Austin American-Statesman: Forensic Panel 'Just Beginning' Willingham Arson Inquiry
Texas Tribune: The Big Stall
Grits for Breakfast: Willingham Case Stalled in Seemingly Stacked Panel at Forensic Commission
Visit our Willingham resource page for background on the Willingham case.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Defense Lawyers Blame Politics for Derailing Forensic Science Commission's Work
Posted: May 4, 2010 5:00 pm
The Houston Chronicle reports that an appellate court in a San Antonio case found that meetings of a city council subcommittee should have been open to the public.
“Because evidence ... indicated that the subcommittee actually made the final decisions and the City Council merely ‘rubber stamped’ them,” the attorney general’s handbook says, the meetings should have been open.
“Here,” Schneider said of the forensic board, “you have the (subcommittee) hearing evidence and deciding what evidence will be presented. So, just because you don’t have a quorum doesn’t mean it’s not doing the full commission’s work.”
Bradley countered that “no binding decisions are made by the committees, only recommendations that must be reviewed, debated and ultimately voted on by the entire Forensic Science Commission in a public forum.”
Several separate expert reviews have found that the forensic analysis used to convict Willingham was incorrect and that experts who testified at his trial should have known it was wrong at the time. Willingham maintained his innocence until his execution in 2004.
Read the full story here.
Learn about the Willingham case and the Texas Forensic Science Commission here.
Tags: Texas, Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Forensic Science Commission to Convene Friday
Posted: July 21, 2010 2:55 pm
But two years ago, the Commission and Attorney General’s office agreed that cases like Willingham’s that precede 2003 are well within its authority.
And rightly so: The Willingham inquiry into the use of unreliable arson analysis is an urgent matter for more than 600 people incarcerated in Texas whose arson convictions may have been based on invalid science. If its investigation is derailed, the commissioners would be turning their backs on these potentially innocent Texans.
. . .
The people of Texas deserve a justice system they can believe in. But if commissioners keep allowing Bradley to rewrite the rules and sabotage the commission’s mission, their ability to redress the forensic problems that have plagued the criminal justice system in Texas will never materialize.
Read the full op-ed here.
Get more information on Friday's meeting in our press advisory.
Visit our Willingham Resource Page for more informaton on the Willingham case and the Texas Forensic Science Commission.
Tags: Forensic Oversight, Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Commission Considers Willingham Case
Posted: July 23, 2010 9:55 am
Media Coverage:
CNN: Texans wonder if they executed an innocent man
Houston Chronicle: Dousing a troublesome arson probe
Dallas Morning News blog: Texas Forensic Science Commission -- an exercise in futility?
Austin American-Statesman blog: House, Senate leaders deadlocked over Lege Council pick
Texas Tribune: Forensic Science Commission Narrowing Its Jurisdiction?
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Forensics Panel Continues to Avoid its Duties
Posted: July 26, 2010 5:25 pm
Some members seemed willing to follow that suggestion from the Chairman, but Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck noted that the commission was failing to consider fundamental aspects of the allegation, and urged it to reserve its judgment until it properly completed its investigation. Ultimately the Commission unanimously agreed that they needed more information, and did NOT make any finding at the meeting.. The Innocence Project will continue to work to ensure that they act in public view, and in proper consideration of all of the relevant information.
One valuable result of the day’s proceedings was that Patricia Cox, Willingham’s cousin and Eugenia Willingham, Willingham’s stepmother - who traveled from Oklahoma to be at the meeting – were able to address the Commission.
Cox noted that the Commission agreed that her cousin had been convicted and executed based on faulty evidence, whether the Commission chooses to call that “negligence” or not.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
More Delays from Texas Forensic Panel
Posted: July 26, 2010 5:10 pm
Willingham’s cousin and his stepmother traveled from Oklahoma to be at the meeting and speak during the public comment section, along with Innocence Project’s Co-Director Barry Scheck and Policy Director Stephen Saloom.
Read Saloom’s blog post on the commission here.
Media coverage:
CNN: Texas state board says arson investigators used flawed science
Houston Chronicle: Science Defeats DA 8-0
Houston Chronicle: Panel Cites 'Flawed Science' in Arson Case
Austin American-Statesman: Commission: No negligence or misconduct by investigators in fatal fire
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
TX Forensics Panel Will Meet Friday to Discuss Willingham Case
Posted: September 13, 2010 4:55 pm
The committee has since met twice in secret and in tentative findings said that the arson investigators results
were flawed based on erroneous national standards of the time. The state Fire Marshal's Office and Corsicana officials filed responses very critical of Beyler's report, but as per Beyler, those responses were never shared with him and he wasn't asked to respond.
Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck said the state Fire Marshal's response was a misleading document that raises more questions than it answers.
Casey suggests the Bradley is dominating the actions of the Commission as opposed allowing the seven scientists and forensic practitioners on the commission to have a voice. He said that along with the scientists, the defense attorney and prosecutor on the Commission need to rebel against Bradley to ensure the commission fulfills its role to promote justice by enforcing scientific standards.
Friday’s TFSC meeting will be streamed live online here. View the meeting agenda.
Visit our Willingham resource page for more on the case and the Texas Forensic Science Commission.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Officials Review Arson Conviction
Posted: September 17, 2010 11:02 am
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Hearing Set for Next Week in Willingham Arson Case
Posted: September 30, 2010 1:15 pm
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Willingham Hearing Delayed
Posted: October 6, 2010 5:51 pm
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Willingham Hearing Convenes Today
Posted: October 14, 2010 2:15 pm
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Forensics Science Commission Considers Willingham Case
Posted: October 15, 2010 5:54 pm
More on Willingham and the Forensic Science Commission:
Read Saloom's October 13 letter to TFSC Commissioners responding to the "guilty monster" comment.
Visit our Willingham resource page for more on the case and the Texas Forensic Science Commission.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Tonight on Frontline: Arson and Injustice
Posted: October 19, 2010 4:10 pm
On Thursday, Texas Judge Charlie Baird held a hearing in the case to determine whether to convene a court of inquiry, and the Texas Forensic Science Commission discussed the case at its meeting on Friday.
Read more about the case in our Willingham resource center.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
The Death Penalty on Trial
Posted: December 1, 2010 5:42 pm
This hearing will come on the heels of a big week in death penalty news. A bill to abolish executions in Illinois passed a key committee yesterday but stalled today before reaching a vote in the full House. Supporters said they were just a few votes short and will push for a vote during a final lame duck session in early January.
Earlier this week, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens penned an essay in the New York Review of Books explaining that the real possibility of wrongful convictions and executions played a key role in his shift from supporting the death penalty when he first joined the court to his belief today that our capital punishment system is unconstitutional. New York Times columnist Bob Herbert expanded on Stevens’ views in a column yesterday titled “Broken Beyond Repair.”
The work of the Innocence Project in recent months has shed light on two men who were executed in Texas based on faulty evidence – Cameron Todd Willingham and Claude Jones. The upcoming hearing in John Green’s case could provide a forum to examine whether a system fraught with such risk and error should be responsible for life and death.
The Innocence Project supports a moratorium on capital punishment while the causes of wrongful convictions are fully identified and remedied.
Tags: Death Penalty, Claude Jones, Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Death Penalty Hearing Starts Today
Posted: December 6, 2010 5:31 pm
The Texas Defenders, who are serving as Green's lead counsel, published last week a list of six reasons they believe the death penalty to be unconstitutional as applied in Texas. The list includes several key causes of wrongful conviction.
Read more coverage of this week's landmark hearing:
Wall Street Journal: A Texas Case Puts the Death Penalty on Trial
Houston Chronicle: Stage is Set for Review of Death Penalty
Tags: Claude Jones, Cameron Todd Willingham
TX Forensics Panel Meets Tuesday, Watch Live
Posted: December 13, 2010 4:05 pm
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Forensic Meeting Streaming Live
Posted: December 14, 2010 10:15 am
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Death and Innocence: Scheck on MSNBC's Daily Rundown
Posted: December 24, 2010 11:10 am
Tags: Claude Jones, Cameron Todd Willingham
Arson Experts Say Texas Fire Investigation Was Faulty
Posted: January 7, 2011 5:50 pm
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Watch Live Friday: Texas Forensics Hearing
Posted: January 20, 2011 6:05 pm
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Behind the Delay in Willingham Investigation
Posted: January 26, 2011 4:55 pm
Up to this point, most delays in the commission’s investigation have come from Chairman John Bradley’s opposition to hearing expert testimony. If the question of jurisdiction is a real concern, Dean should have addressed that several meetings ago rather than impede the commission’s work yet again.
But the seven scientists on the nine-member body have repeatedly and overwhelmingly rejected Bradley's strictures. The unanimity of the vote suggests that a serious legal issue was raised in the secret session.
My guess is that the issue was brought by either the city of Corsicana or the fire marshal's office, or both.
If I'm right, we are watching an ugly spectacle of two law enforcement agencies, unable to marshal science on their side, aggressively fighting against science with lawyers.
The main reason the TFSC was formed in the first place was to strengthen the use of forensic science in criminal investigations.
There is no reason to exclude arson from the scope of the commission, since scores of people sit in our prisons based on arson investigators' testimony.
It is frightening that even though they can't produce a scientist who doesn't believe the Willingham arson investigation was botched, both the Corsicana Police Department and the State Fire Marshal's Office maintain that it was a good investigation.
Read the full story.
Learn more about Cameron Todd Willingham.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
More on Delay in Willingham Investigation
Posted: February 8, 2011 4:51 pm
The Star-Telegram reports that the commission’s main question is whether it has the ability to investigate cases in which "the evidence underlying the forensic analysis was tested or offered into evidence" years before the commission was created in September 2005.
Depending on the AG’s answer, the commission could be forced to abandon its Willingham investigation altogether.
The TFSC will next meet on April 15.
Read the full story.
Watch the TFSC’s last meeting from January 21.
Learn more about the case at the Willingham Resource Page.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Senators Delay Confirmation of FSC Chairman
Posted: March 2, 2011 4:36 pm
Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004 for allegedly setting a fire that killed his three young daughters 13 years earlier. He went to his death proclaiming his innocence.
Ever since October 2009, when Gov. Rick Perry replaced Commission Chairman Sam Bassett with John Bradley, the Willingham investigation has stalled.
"He's turned it into a bureaucracy," said Stephen Saloom, policy director for the Innocence Project, who said he has been to every meeting of the commission since Bradley took over. "Since he became chairman, John Bradley has done everything in his power to prevent or delay the commission from completing one single investigation."
Read the full story.
Learn more about the arson investigation into Cameron Todd Willingham’s case.
Read about the Texas Forensic Science Commission.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
TFSC Approves Arson Recommendations
Posted: April 18, 2011 5:19 pm
Although the commission approved a first draft report with 16 recommendations for fire investigators, prosecutors and defense attorneys and lawmakers, it still hasn’t said whether arson investigators were negligent in Willingham’s case.
The state commission can't exonerate Willingham or reopen his case but determines whether forensic science in such cases was sound. The eight-member panel won't make a ruling on negligence or professional misconduct by the fire's initial investigators until it gets word from the attorney general, a decision not likely until July. John Bradley, a suburban Austin district attorney and the commission chairman appointed by Gov. Rick Perry in 2009, had requested the legal opinion. After courts rejected appeals in Willingham's case, Perry refused to stop Willingham's execution.
"In general, I'm satisfied," said Stephen Saloom, policy director for the Innocence Project, which first raised questions about the case. "They were constrained by the AG's opinion and have had to overcome the chairman's relentless efforts to keep a lot of issues down. In the areas they're permitted to address, they've made some significant progress and deserve credit for that."
…
"They've gotten much more specific," he said. "It responds to the allegations as much as possible. This gives a chance for all those past cases."
Read the full article.
Read more on Willingham and the Texas Forensic Science Commission.
Tags: Texas, Cameron Todd Willingham
Chairman of Texas Forensic Commission Won’t Be Back
Posted: May 27, 2011 12:01 pm
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Iowa Adopts Arson Reforms
Posted: July 7, 2011 5:48 pm
Tags: Unvalidated/Improper Forensics, Cameron Todd Willingham
New TFSC Chairman Tackles Willingham Case
Posted: July 22, 2011 1:40 pm
Willingham always maintained his innocence, and the arson investigation used to convict him was questioned by leading experts before he was executed. Since 2004, many additional experts have agreed that the original investigation was based on bad arson science.
A year after the TFSC agreed to investigate Willingham’s case, it was poised to hear a potentially damaging report from an independent expert but Governor Perry abruptly dismissed the commission chairman and added members.
The pace has been slow ever since, but the commission did issue a report this spring finding that the investigation was flawed. However, the commission stopped short of finding that the investigators in the case acted negligently.
Ellis said he is optimistic the new chairman will move the commission past the political pressures that have beleaguered its work. “The reason for creating the commission is to make sure in Texas we’re using forensics properly,” he said. “We ought to go where the science takes us.”
Read the full article.
Read background on the Willingham case and the Texas Forensic Science Commission.
Visit the TFSC website.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Scheck: TX Arson Investigation Should Go On
Posted: August 15, 2011 5:16 pm
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
TFS Commissioners Should Retain Jurisdiction Over Willingham
Posted: September 12, 2011 8:20 pm
The Innocence Project is pressing the Commission to recognize that it retains jurisdiction over the central claim in the Willingham investigation, which is focused on the negligence of the State Fire Marshal’s Office with regard to arson evidence, and should investigate that matter in addition to the findings it has already issued.
This is particularly important given that the Texas Fire Marshal stands by the discredited arson evidence used to convict Mr. Willingham, a position that the Commission’s initial report found "untenable." Given the Fire Marshal’s regard for the evidence in the Willingham case, the Innocence Project has asked how the Commission can assume faith in the arson evidence for which the Fire Marshal has statutory responsibility. In short, serious questions of justice and forensic evidence will remain unanswered should the Commission decline to investigate further.
Read more about on these developments from the Austin American-Statesman and the Texas Tribune.
Austin American-Statesman: Thanks to Willingham Inquiry, Old Cases Getting New Look (9/10/11)
Texas Tribune: Forensic Panel Calls for Review of Past Arson Cases (9/9/11)
Visit our Cameron Todd Willingham resource page for more background on this case and the work of the TFSC.
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
The Best Work a Prosecutor Could Do?
Posted: October 12, 2011 4:10 pm
In 2010, the Innocence Project sought a rare Court of Inquiry proceeding because it was one of the only vehicles left to enable the Texas legal system to realize the mistake that every credible fire expert had identified. All other opportunities for official government recognition had failed.
It says volumes about the TCDAA that stopping a legal inquiry into a possible wrongful execution was considered the most exemplary act of professionalism in the public interest by a Texas prosecutor last year.
Our legal system relies on prosecutors to enable justice in criminal cases. Theirs is an incredibly difficult job, requiring hard work, an open mind and sound judgment while considering some of the most terrible acts in our society. This demands that prosecutors perform distinguished acts every day: seeking convictions in serious cases, ensuring that only appropriate charges are pursued and dismissing cases where they feel that the evidence does not support a guilty finding.
Reasonable people can disagree about whether or not a Court of Inquiry is the proper venue to explore the questions of a wrongful conviction – even if a previous Court of Inquiry resulted in the posthumous exoneration of Timothy Cole, and the legislative creation of a Timothy Cole Advisory Panel to prevent wrongful convictions.
By recognizing Thompson for the stopping of the Willingham Court of Inquiry proceeding, TCDAA demeaned the work of all Texas prosecutors. Surely more important – and more difficult – work was done by many Texas prosecutors – including, likely, Thompson himself – in the last year.
Tags: Timothy Cole, Cameron Todd Willingham
Preventing Future Injustice in Texas
Posted: October 28, 2011 4:55 pm
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Forensic News: After Final Willingham Report, New Members Join Commission
Posted: November 1, 2011 6:06 pm
Tags: Cameron Todd Willingham
Willingham Documentary Hits iTunes
Posted: February 21, 2012 5:00 pm
Tags: Texas, Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Judge Moved to Posthumously Exonerate Cameron Todd Willingham
Posted: May 21, 2012 5:20 pm
Texas District Court Judge Charlie Baird was planning to posthumously exonerate Cameron Todd Willingham in 2010 before the order was stopped by a higher court, the Huffington Post reports. Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004 for the deaths of his three young daughters in a house fire.
Throughout his incarceration, Willingham consistently maintained his innocence—even refusing a plea deal that would have spared his life—and multiple forensic experts have since come forward to debunk the scientific validity of the arson investigators who claimed that the fire had been deliberately set with liquid accelerant. That testimony, along with a jailhouse informant who claimed that Willingham had confessed to him, served as the only evidence against him.
Baird’s proposed order drew upon findings in a report filed by renowned arson expert Gerald Hurst, stating that the investigators were wrong and the fire had been set accidentally.
"You can't do anything for Willingham except clear his name," Baird told The Huffington Post. "When they tried Willingham, I'm convinced that everyone worked in good faith. The problem is that up until the execution, everything had changed so dramatically that you realized the science relied upon at trial was not reliable enough to take a man's life."
Ultimately, Baird’s proposed order never became official, as it was ruled that he did not have authority to examine the capital case. Says Innocence Project co-founder Barry Scheck, "It's an awful shame that this opinion was sitting in his desk gathering dust and nobody could see it…This opinion will stand the test of time, because it faces the facts."
The Willingham case was also reviewed by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which issued its report last year. The Commission called for an investigation into possible wrongful convictions in other arson cases statewide. Willingham’s family continues to push for a pardon that would clear his name.
Read the whole article.
Read more about Cameron Todd Willingham’s case.
Read coverage of the Texas Forensic Science Commission report.
Tags: Texas, Cameron Todd Willingham
Two Virginia Men Fight Arson Convictions
Posted: August 7, 2012 1:50 pm
Arson experts are questioning the science in two Virginia convictions, reported the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Davey Reedy is on parole after serving 20 years for the 1987 arson deaths of his two children, and Michael Ledford is serving a 50-year sentence for the 1999 arson death of his one-year-old son. Although prosecutors remain firm on Reedy and Ledford’s guilt, critics believe faulty and outdated science is responsible for the convictions.
John Lentini, a fire science expert who reviewed evidence in the high-profile Cameron Todd Willingham case, said that many of the principles used in arson investigations during the 1980s and 1990s were based on inaccurate evidence at best and "witchcraft" at worst.
"When you can prove some other dude done it you're in much better shape. With fires, it's not 'some other dude done it,' it's 'nobody done it,' and that's very difficult to prove once you're convicted," said Lentini.
Ledford claims that he falsely confessed to starting the fire after investigators misled him to believe that he had failed a polygraph test. Authorities originally classified the cause of fire as undetermined but changed the finding to arson. Experts reviewing the case for the defense said the fire was not intentionally started and that photographs taken at the scene show compelling evidence of an electrical fire.
In Reedy’s case, the local fire department concluded the fire was set by pouring and igniting gasoline on the back porch and kitchen areas. A former federal prosecutor who is part of Reedy’s legal team asserts that the only evidence of arson were test results from the state forensics lab stating there was gasoline on Reedy’s shirt and the wood floor, and the fire marshal's assertion of burn patterns. In 2006, Lentini examined the state’s chemical analysis and found the test results were inaccurate.
"Even by the standards used in 1987, this should have made the identification of gasoline in these two samples suspect," Lentini wrote.
Science now shows that burn patterns for arson can be mistaken for patterns found in an accidental fire.
Read the full article.
Read about the Cameron Todd Willingham case.
Tags: Virginia, Cameron Todd Willingham
Texas Arson Cases Reviewed for Wrongful Convictions
Posted: October 9, 2012 5:30 pm
Tags: Texas, Cameron Todd Willingham
Petition for Cameron Todd Willingham's Posthumous Pardon
Posted: October 24, 2012 2:55 pm
Tags: Texas, Unvalidated/Improper Forensics, Cameron Todd Willingham
Death Row Exoneree Supports Willingham Pardon Petition
Posted: October 25, 2012 5:30 pm
Tags: Texas, Cameron Todd Willingham
Dallas Morning News Stresses Importance of Arson Review
Posted: January 10, 2013 4:50 pm
Tags: Texas, Forensic Oversight, Unvalidated/Improper Forensics, Cameron Todd Willingham
Six Texas Arson Cases to Be Reviewed
Posted: March 21, 2013 4:30 pm
Tags: Texas, Cameron Todd Willingham