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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