"THE INNOCENCE PROJECT, A NONPROFIT LEGAL ORGANIZATION THAT INVESTIGATES POSSIBLE WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS, QUESTIONED WILLINGHAM'S GUILT. NOW THE TEXAS FORENSIC SCIENCE COMMISSION WILL REVIEW A REPORT FRIDAY FROM AN EXPERT IT HIRED WHO CONCLUDED THE ORIGINAL ARSON DETERMINATION WAS FAULTY.
THE PROSECUTOR IN THE CASE STILL BELIEVES WILLINGHAM IS GUILTY, BUT ACKNOWLEDGES IT WOULD HAVE BEEN HARD TO WIN A DEATH SENTENCE WITHOUT THE ARSON FINDING.
YET BARRY SCHECK, CO-DIRECTOR OF THE NEW YORK-BASED INNOCENCE PROJECT, SEES IT DIFFERENTLY: "THERE CAN NO LONGER BE ANY DOUBT THAT AN INNOCENT PERSON HAS BEEN EXECUTED.""
REPORTER MICHAEL GRACZYC; THE HUFFINGTON POST;
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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."
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"CORSICANA, Texas -- More than five years after Cameron Todd Willingham was executed by the state of Texas for the deaths of his three young daughters in a fire at the family's home, a state panel will review a report concluding that the original determination of arson was faulty," The Huffington Post story, by reporter Michael Graczyc begins, under the heading, "Texas panel reviews ruling that led to execution."
"Willingham was executed in February 2004 -- proclaiming his innocence in the deaths of his three young daughters in a fire at their Corsicana home on Dec. 23, 1991," the story continues.
"An arson finding by investigators was key to his conviction in the circumstantial case.
The Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal organization that investigates possible wrongful convictions, questioned Willingham's guilt. Now the Texas Forensic Science Commission will review a report Friday from an expert it hired who concluded the original arson determination was faulty.
The prosecutor in the case still believes Willingham is guilty, but acknowledges it would have been hard to win a death sentence without the arson finding.
Yet Barry Scheck, co-director of the New York-based Innocence Project, sees it differently: "There can no longer be any doubt that an innocent person has been executed."
Sheck, a Huffington Post blogger, weighed in on Williinham's execution in late August. The New Yorker's David Grann recently wrote a detailed piece that cast doubt on Willingham's conviction and subsequent execution.
In 2007, Scheck's group gave its review of the case to the state commission, which then hired Baltimore-based arson expert Craig Beyler to study. Beyler concluded the arson finding was scientifically unsupported and investigators at the scene had "poor understandings of fire science."
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John Jackson, the prosecutor in Navarro County, about 50 miles south of Dallas, says the original fire investigation was "undeniably flawed," based on subsequent reviews, but remains confident Willingham was guilty of killing Amber, 2, and 1-year-old twins Karmon and Kameron.
"What people missed is that even though the arson report may be flawed, it certainly doesn't mean it arrived at a faulty conclusion," Jackson said.
"I'm an easy target," he added, shaking his head over media reports on the case "about how we're all a bunch of bozos."
The nine-member commission, created by the Texas Legislature in 2005, also will hear from others including the State Fire Marshal's Office. The panel will release its own report, probably next year and what happens then is uncertain. This is the commission's first review case; the panel is not empowered to rule on Willingham's guilt or innocence.
The commission's mandate is strictly to determine forensic negligence, panel coordinator Leigh Tomlin said.
Willingham, in an Associated Press interview about two weeks before his execution, said Amber's cries woke him around 10:30 a.m. His wife, Stacy, had left earlier to run errands.
He said he told Amber to get out of the house and approached the twins' room but couldn't get past the flames and smoke. The house had no phone, so he said he ran to a neighbor's home and "screamed to call the fire department."
He did not go back inside.
"The only way for me to get back into the house was to jump back into the flames," he said. "I would not do that."
Amber's body was found in Willingham's room. The twins were in their room.
Willingham listed other possible causes of the fire, including an electrical malfunction, an intruder who wanted them dead, or an oil lantern on a collapsing shelf.
A state fire marshal -- who has since died -- and a local fire investigator ruled it was arson, that a liquid accelerant was ignited and the blaze was set in a way to keep anyone from reaching the children. Prosecutors arrested Willingham two weeks later.
"It's all a farce," Willingham told the AP from death row.
Years later, Innocence Project investigators and now Beyler, based on notes and photos from the scene, agree with him.
Douglas Fogg stands by his conclusions as the former assistant fire chief who helped investigate the deadly blaze.
"The bleeding hearts that are against the death penalty are trying to stir everything up again," he told The Dallas Morning News last month. "They finally got someone who would say what they wanted to hear."
Other prosecution evidence was largely circumstantial: A county jail inmate said Willingham discussed his involvement in the fire and neighbors reported Willingham worried more about his car than the children as the house burned.
Jackson, the Navarro County prosecutor, said the multiple deaths -- not the arson -- made it a capital murder case. But he acknowledged that without an arson determination the capital conviction would have been difficult.
"I'm not sure the evidence would have sustained a conviction from a legal standpoint if we hadn't been able to prove a fire of incendiary arson," he said.
At trial, Willingham's wife, Stacy, testified for him during the punishment phase, denying he ever hurt her. Acquaintances, however, said she told them he'd beaten her several times, even while she was pregnant.
On appeal, courts rejected Willingham's arguments that it was improper to allow hearsay bolstering prosecutors' contentions that the children impeded Willingham's lifestyle. He denied that.
"They were great kids," he said from prison. "They were fantastic kids."
Willingham acknowledged a rocky relationship with his wife, whom he married about two months before the fire and after they'd been living together for almost three years.
"I cheated on her," he told the AP. "I was so full of myself and so dumb."
His venom from the death chamber was aimed at her as she watched his execution.
In the years following his conviction, she became convinced of his guilt, refused his request to testify for him at a clemency hearing, but did agree to his long-standing invitation to see him in prison about 2 1/2 weeks before he was scheduled to die.
"It was hard for me to sit in front of him," she said, describing their meeting to the Corsicana Daily Sun a few days later in 2004 in her most recent public comments. "He basically took my life away from me. He took my kids away from me."
Jackson said jurors who heard the prosecution's case got a more complete picture of Willingham and that the arson questions now raised are "wild speculation."
"I'm pretty ambivalent when it comes to the death penalty," Jackson said. "I guess if it raises the question of the propriety of capital punishment, I think that's a good argument for people to have.
"I'm not losing a whole lot of sleep.""
The story can be found at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/26/cameron-todd-willingham-t_n_300940.html
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
