"IF THAT COMMISSION ESTABLISHES THAT WILLINGHAM WAS INDEED INNOCENT, AS HE CONTINUED TO INSIST UNTIL HIS EXECUTION, "IT WILL POSE THE GREATEST MORAL CHALLENGE TO THIS NATION ABOUT THE DEATH PENALTY: ARE WE OR ARE WE NOT PREPARED TO KEEP THIS SYSTEM NOW, KNOWING THAT SOME INNOCENT PEOPLE WILL BE CONVICTED AND TRAGICALLY EXECUTED?" SAID RICK HALPERIN OF THE TEXAS COALITION TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY.
"HOW MANY MISTAKES IS THIS NATION WILLING TO ENDURE?""
LUCILLE MALAINDAIN; AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE;
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Background: (Wikipedia); Cameron Todd Willingham (January 9, 1968 – February 17, 2004), born in Carter County, Oklahoma, was sentenced to death by the state of Texas for murdering his three daughters—two year old Amber Louise Kuykendall, and one year old twins Karmon Diane Willingham and Kameron Marie Willingham— by setting his house on fire. The fire occurred on December 23, 1991 in Corsicana, Texas. Lighter fluid was kept on the front porch of Willingham’s house as evidenced by a melted container found there. Some of this fluid may have entered the front doorway of the house carried along by fire hose water. It was alleged this fluid was deliberately poured to start the fire and that Willingham chose this entrance way so as to impede rescue attempts. The prosecution also used other arson theories that have since been brought into question. In addition to the arson evidence, a jailhouse informant claimed Willingham confessed that he set the fire to hide his wife's physical abuse of the girls, although the girls showed no other injuries besides those caused by the fire. Neighbors also testified that Willingham did not try hard enough to save his children. They allege he "crouched down" in his front yard and watched the house burn for a period of time without attempting to enter the home or go to neighbors for help or request they call firefighters. He claimed that he tried to go back into the house but it was "too hot". As firefighters arrived, however, he rushed towards the garage and pushed his car away from the burning building, requesting firefighters do the same rather than put out the fire. After the fire, Willingham showed no emotion at the death of his children and spent the next day sorting through the debris, laughing and playing music. He expressed anger after finding his dartboard burned in the fire. Firefighters and other witnesses found him suspicious of how he reacted during and after the fire. Willingham was charged with murder on January 8, 1992. During his trial in August 1992, he was offered a life term in exchange for a guilty plea, which he turned down insisting he was innocent. After his conviction, he and his wife divorced. She later stated that she believed that Willingham was guilty. Prosecutors alleged this was part of a pattern of behavior intended to rid himself of his children. Willingham had a history of committing crimes, including burglary, grand larceny and car theft. There was also an incident when he beat his pregnant wife over the stomach with a telephone to induce a miscarriage. When asked if he had a final statement, Willingham said: "Yeah. The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man - convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do. From God's dust I came and to dust I will return - so the earth shall become my throne. I gotta go, road dog. I love you Gabby." However, his final words were directed at his ex-wife, Stacy Willingham. He turned to her and said "I hope you rot in hell, bitch" several times while attempting to extend his middle finger in an obscene gesture. His ex-wife did not show any reaction to this. He was executed by lethal injection on February 17, 2004. Subsequent to that date, persistent questions have been raised as to the accuracy of the forensic evidence used in the conviction, specifically, whether it can be proven that an accelerant (such as the lighter fluid mentioned above) was used to start the fatal fire. Fire investigator Gerald L. Hurst reviewed the case documents including the trial transcriptions and an hour-long videotape of the aftermath of the fire scene. Hurst said, "There's nothing to suggest to any reasonable arson investigator that this was an arson fire. It was just a fire."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Execution Agence France-Presse has waded into the Cameron Todd Willingham debate - and helped spread it beyond America's borders - with a story by reporter Lucille Malandain which appeared earlier this week under the heading, "opponents hope Texas case will be US turning point."
Wikipedia informs us that: Agence France-Presse (AFP) is the oldest news agency in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Pierre Louette and editor-in-chief Nicolas Miletitch. AFP is based in Paris, with regional centres in Washington, Hong Kong, Nicosia, São Paulo, Montevideo and bureaux in 110 countries. It transmits news in French, English, Arabic, Spanish, German, and Portuguese."
"WASHINGTON — He was executed in Texas in 2004, convicted of setting a fire that killed his three children, but Todd Willingham could become the first proven case of an innocent man put to death by the state," the story begins.
"Convicted at 24 of starting a fire that killed his three daughters, Willingham's case is now being reexamined, and opponents of capital punishment hope it could prove a turning point in the United States, where an average of 50 people a year are executed by lethal injection," the story continues.
"Proving a convict's innocence is difficult, and doing so after a prisoner has been executed is extremely rare. Death penalty experts told AFP that no US state has ever officially acknowledged making the "ultimate mistake."
"As long as our system of justice makes mistakes -- including the ultimate mistake -- we cannot continue executing people," argues the Innocence Project, which in 2006 took Willingham's case to the Texas forensic science commission.
If that commission establishes that Willingham was indeed innocent, as he continued to insist until his execution, "it will pose the greatest moral challenge to this nation about the death penalty: are we or are we not prepared to keep this system now, knowing that some innocent people will be convicted and tragically executed?" said Rick Halperin of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
"How many mistakes is this nation willing to endure?"
In 1992, Willingham was convicted by a jury based on evidence from local experts. He was executed 12 years later.
His case, detailed this week in the New Yorker magazine, included classic court missteps: the defense presented no opposing expert witness; a psychiatric expert described Willingham as a "dangerous psychopath," despite never having met him; witnesses changed their statements to favor the prosecution; and court-appointed lawyers acted in a manner other attorneys said was incompetent.
In a report sent in August to the Texas forensic science commission, reviewed by AFP, an expert fire investigator concluded, as did two other experts in 2004 and 2006, that the blaze was accidental, not arson.
The report found that the local fire scene expert consulted in the case offered an opinion that "is nothing more than a collection of personal beliefs that have nothing to do with the science-based fire investigation."
The case takes on chilling resonance as Troy Davis, a black man convicted of killing a white police officer, awaits execution in Georgia, continuing to proclaim his innocence.
He has escaped three dates with death and recently obtained a Supreme Court order forcing a court to examine new evidence he argues could prove his innocence.
A survey of 800 adults in California this week found that support for capital punishment had fallen to 66 percent, down from 79 percent in 1989. Forty-four percent of those surveyed said they were concerned about the possibility an innocent person could be executed -- up from 23 percent in 1989.
But Willingham's case will hardly make death penalty opponents' work easy.
In a recent ruling, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in a dissenting opinion joined by Justice Clarence Thomas: "This court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is 'actually' innocent."
The story can be found at:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iMISLGdBGPA7DaDe79_Sd5pwYPow
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
