"Some letter writers criticized the State Fire Marshal's Office, which provides arson investigation help to communities across Texas, for declining to acknowledge shortcomings in the Willingham case.
"For the fire marshal's office to permit (Willingham) to remain imprisoned during all those years leading up to his execution, in spite of knowing for most of those years that the compelling testimony \u2026 provided at trial was solidly wrong, is to partake in unethical scientific behavior of the most extreme kind," wrote Thomas Bohan, a 35-year forensic physicist from Maine.
The fire marshal's office compounded its "unethical, negligent behavior" by failing to review similar arson cases that may have been influenced by false or misleading arson indicators, Bohan said.
The letters to the commission highlight an intriguing fight over the scope of its Willingham inquiry, which is being closely watched by both sides of the death penalty debate."
REPORTER CHUCK LINDELL; THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN; Wikipedia informs us that, "The Austin American-Statesman is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is an award-winning publication owned by Cox Enterprises. The Statesman places focus on issues affecting Austin and the Central Texas region."
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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 were 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. Legendary "Innocence" lawyer Barry Scheck asked participants at a conference of the National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers held in Toronto in August, 2010, how Willingham, who had lost his family to the fire, must have felt to hear the horrific allegations made against him on the basis of the bogus evidence, "and nobody pays any attention to it as he gets executed." "It's the Dreyfus Affair, and you all know what that is," Scheck continued. "It's the Dreyfus AffaIr of the United States. Luke Power's music video "Texas Death Row Blues," can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/09/cameron-todd-willingham-texas-death-row_02.html
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"The State Fire Marshal's Office stands behind its controversial conclusion that Cameron Todd Willingham started the house fire that killed his three children in 1991, contradicting arson experts and scientists who insist the agency relied on bad science in its investigation," the American-Statesman story by reporter Chuck Lindell published on September 8, 2010 begins, under the heading, "Fire marshal backs arson finding in man's execution: Assertion comes as forensic science panel finishing inquiry into 1991 fire that killed Cameron Todd Willingham's 3 children.
"In a pointed letter to the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which is nearing the end of a contentious review of the Willingham arson investigation, Fire Marshal Paul Maldonado defended his agency's handling of the case that led to Willingham's execution in 2004," the story continues.
"In July, the commission announced a tentative finding that investigators employed "flawed science" — including now-debunked beliefs that certain fire behaviors point to arson — to conclude that Willingham intentionally set fire to his Corsicana home.
But Maldonado said his agency's investigation remains valid, even after modern, scientific arson standards are applied.
"We stand by the original investigator's report and conclusions," Maldonado said in his Aug. 20 letter to the commission. "Should any subsequent analysis be performed to test other theories and possibilities of the cause and origin of the fire, we will of course re-examine the report again."
Maldonado's letter was among 11 received last month after the commission solicited final comments before members prepare to write their report on the Willingham investigation at a specially called meeting Sept. 17 in Dallas. The four-member Willingham subcommittee will have draft language for the rest of the seven-member panel to consider, but much of the discussion on final wording will take place during the open meeting, Chairman John Bradley said Wednesday.
Some letter writers criticized the State Fire Marshal's Office, which provides arson investigation help to communities across Texas, for declining to acknowledge shortcomings in the Willingham case.
"For the fire marshal's office to permit (Willingham) to remain imprisoned during all those years leading up to his execution, in spite of knowing for most of those years that the compelling testimony \u2026 provided at trial was solidly wrong, is to partake in unethical scientific behavior of the most extreme kind," wrote Thomas Bohan, a 35-year forensic physicist from Maine.
The fire marshal's office compounded its "unethical, negligent behavior" by failing to review similar arson cases that may have been influenced by false or misleading arson indicators, Bohan said.
The letters to the commission highlight an intriguing fight over the scope of its Willingham inquiry, which is being closely watched by both sides of the death penalty debate.
One side, led by the Innocence Project of New York, is pushing for a broad inquiry that could cement the primacy of science-based fire investigations while serving as a launching pad to review convictions that may have been based on now-discredited investigative techniques.
The other side, including Corsicana officials and some fire investigators, seeks a limited review focused on one question: Did investigators follow standard practices when they sifted through the rubble of Willingham's home in 1991 and 1992? They argue that investigators cannot be faulted if they applied commonly used techniques to assess the fatal fire.
Thus far, the Texas Forensic Science Commission appears to be engaged in a limited review, a course it set after Gov. Rick Perry shook up the panel's membership a year ago, replacing the former chairman, Austin defense lawyer Sam Bassett, with Bradley, the Williamson County district attorney.
At the commission's quarterly meeting in July, the Willingham subcommittee announced that it could not find that investigators engaged in misconduct or negligence because they were merely following standard practices for arson investigations of the era.
Based on that finding, many of those who submitted letters to the commission tackled a version of the question: What did investigators know, and when did they know it?
Nobody disputes the notion that fire science has come a long way since 1991, largely because of the National Fire Protection Association's "NFPA 921: Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations." Published in 1992, after the Willingham fire, the guide marked the first concerted effort to bring the scientific method to fire investigations, but it took several years to catch on.
Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, said the fire marshal who investigated the Willingham fire, Manuel Vasquez, should have known that his methods had been deemed unreliable by scientists and leaders of his profession. That information "was readily available" in 1991 even if NFPA 921 had not yet been published, Scheck said in an Aug. 20 letter to the commission.
"Simply because 'everyone else was doing it' does not make (his) actions reasonable or not negligent," Scheck wrote.
Craig Beyler, a fire scientist hired by the commission to review the investigation into the Willingham fire, wrote a 2009 report that was highly critical of Vasquez's findings and testimony. Beyler's report, and a follow-up letter sent to the commission Aug. 3, concluded that Vasquez relied on techniques that industry texts had already dismissed as folklore, such as:
• Vasquez testified that wood burns at 800 degrees, meaning an accelerant must have been used to reach the 1,200 degrees necessary to melt an aluminum threshold. But accelerant fires are no hotter than wood fires, and both can reach 2,000 degrees, Beyler said.
• Vasquez testified that "puddle configurations" and burn patterns on the floor could only have been caused by burning liquids. In reality, Beyler said, such patterns are typical in rooms, like those in the Willingham home, that were fully involved in a fire.
• Vasquez determined that a severely cracked porch window indicated a fast, hot fire due to accelerants. It is more likely, Beyler said, that the "crazed glass" resulted from firefighters hitting hot glass with water.
Maldonado, who became state fire marshal in 2004 after rising to assistant chief for the Austin Fire Department, acknowledged that his agency used many of the principles and practices espoused by NFPA 921 when Vasquez — who died in the mid-1990s — investigated the Willingham fire.
Attached to Maldonado's letter was a point-by-point analysis showing that Vasquez's arson finding can be supported by NFPA 921, which says melted aluminum, burn patterns, broken glass and other fire phenomena "may also be caused by ignitable liquids."
The attachment also suggested that commission members take into account that Vasquez's conclusions were based on a personal review of the fire scene and interviews with Willingham, who offered conflicting accounts of the fire."
The story can be found at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/fire-marshal-backs-arson-finding-in-mans-execution-904851.html?viewAsSinglePage=true
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://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
