'AND I’D WRAP THE COURSE WITH A SINGLE QUESTION. HOW MANY DECADES DOES IT TAKE A JUSTICE SYSTEM, IN THIS CASE A STATE’S JUSTICE SYSTEM, TO RIGHT ITSELF AMID SO MUCH EVIDENCE OF WRONG? HOW MANY DECADES SHOULD IT TAKE?'
ANDREW COHEN: VANITY FAIR;
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."
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Andrew Cohen proposes his course on capital punishment in America in a commentary published on Sept. 8, 2009, in Vanity Fair, under the apt heading, "Texas Toast: Capital Punishment in America."
the commentary begins.
"I’d start with the famous Atlantic magazine article from 2003 called the “Texas Clemency Memos," it continues.
"Writer Alan Berlow did a masterful job there of explaining how the future president of the United States, George W. Bush, and the future attorney general of the United States, Alberto Gonzales, mismanaged Texas’s clemency system a full decade ago. To call the piece an “eye-opener” is to do it disservice.
Next, I’d share with my students a more recent look at law and justice in Texas—a worthy piece titled “Trial by Fire: Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man”—written by David Grann for The New Yorker. Grann’s piece shows us in telling detail how little changed in the half-decade or so since Berlow’s piece struck a chord with death penalty opponents (and advocates). The story of Cameron Todd Willingham is a chilling one; a reminder of why we still need a Bill of Rights—and need it observed.
Perhaps the nadir of the story—and the pivot for my course—would be the ongoing battle between the conservative United States Supreme Court on the one hand and the even more draconian Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on the other. The Justices keep slapping down their state court colleagues in capital cases out of Texas. The state court judges keep coming up with ways to deny capital defendants due process—or, in the case of Sharon Keller, they just close the courthouse doors.
From there I would move on to some of the steps a few brave individuals and organizations have taken to rid Texas of its worst excesses. Here is a former Dallas County capital prosecutor who is now speaking out against the death penalty. 21 people convicted in that one county alone have since been exonerated thanks to DNA evidence. Here is a former federal inspector general coming out with a stinging report on Houston’s notorious crime lab. There, scores more defendants were unfairly accused and unjustly convicted.
And I’d wrap the course with a single question. How many decades does it take a justice system, in this case a state’s justice system, to right itself amid so much evidence of wrong? How many decades should it take?"
(Andrew Cohen is Chief Legal Analyst and Legal Editor of CBS News where he writes his CourtWatch columns and a blog.)
The commentary can be found at:
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2009/09/texas-toast-capital-punishment-in-america.html
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
