"Paul Burka's column on the Todd Willingham case breaks the case down to its most basic elements. He's right, and his logic strikes me as hard to refute."
MICHAEL LANDAUER: DALLAS MORNING NEWS; TEXAS DEATH PENALTY BLOG;
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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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"Paul Burka's column on the Todd Willingham case breaks the case down to its most basic elements. He's right, and his logic strikes me as hard to refute."
MICHAEL LANDAUER: DALLAS MORNING NEWS; TEXAS DEATH PENALTY BLOG;
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"Paul Burka's column on the Todd Willingham case breaks the case down to its most basic elements. He's right, and his logic strikes me as hard to refute," Michael Landauer's post, published in the Dallas Morning News on August 3, 2010, under the heading, "Burka on Willingham: Flawed evidence means a flawed conviction," begins.
"The integrity of the Texas Forensic Science Commission has been compromised ever since Rick Perry reorganized the commission, installed his longtime politically ally, Williamson County D.A. John Bradley, as chairman, and replaced other members of the commission investigating the Cameron Todd Willingham case," the post continues.
"Willingham's three children died in a fire that investigators said was deliberately set, and he was subsequently sentenced to death and executed. Experts who have studied the case have since concluded that arson investigators used flawed science in determining that the fire was an act of arson. ...," the post continues.
"We know the truth: The evidence was flawed. If the evidence was flawed, then so was Willingham's conviction. We can only hope that when this sad episode is over, Perry will make a public statement of regret and clear Willingham's name with a posthumous pardon. Don't hold your breath.
On the other hand, Dudley Sharp (outspoken critic of anti-death penalty movement HL) continues to grasp at reasons why it was OK to kill Willingham, most of which center around the notion that he was a bad guy, not around any case made by the state that he actually killed his children. His attempts, included below so you can draw your own conclusions, remind me of the conspiracy nuts who find a typo in a report and then claim that as evidence of a cover-up. (See point 3, especially.) ...
Mr. Burka has, wrongly, assessed this case and the evidence.
1) The critical forensic reports have found it impossible to determine the origin of the fire. If arson, the reviews find, a flashover would have rendered the fire indistinguishable from an accidental fire. It could have been arson. It could have been an accident. But, that is hardly the end of the discussion.
2) The Texas Fire Marshall's Office, as of Oct. 2009 disagrees. They are sticking by their experts evaluation of the Willingham fire as arson, meaning they will have to undermine Beyler's report and others, which they were aware of. Obviously, under either or both of those Todd Willingham cannot be called innocent. It may be prudent to wait on that report.\
3. The Beyler Report has had numerous critics, inclusive of me and the Dallas Morning News, which found a remarkable revelation. Beyler didn't know that one of Todd's children was found, nearly dead of smoke inhalation, in the same bed that Todd said he was in when he said woke up to the fire. Makes you wonder about Beyler's review, doesn't it? If not, it should. The report had additional problems, as well. 4. Put that into the many conflicting stories Todd told of the fire and his efforts to save his children and you have one lie after another. Why would he lie? 5) Then you have the highly quoted "Trial By Fire", a journalism for the defense piece which, inexplicably, went out of character for one paragraph. On the eve of his execution, Todd confessed to his parents that he never tried to save his children. 6) An alleged witness to the crime has, recently, last fall, come forward and given a statement to the police, that while the house was burning he observed Willingham taking belongings out of the house and putting them into his car, instead of trying to rescue his children. There is, allegedly, a second witness who can corroborate that story, a witness who has not been contacted or confirmed, because he allegedly doesn't want to be identified. I hope the police are still working on getting his statement, if valid. Very important. But the media is avoiding it like the plague, even though they rally around any alleged witness that claims an innocent executed. 7) And, of course, we have Willingham's ex wife and mother of the 3 dead children, now stating that Willingham confessed to the murders."
The post can be found at:
http://deathpenaltyblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/08/burka-on-willingham-flawed-evi.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-feature-cases-issues-and.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;