"You might think that accurate forensic science is a sufficiently nonpartisan issue that everyone, most especially prosecutors, would want to get it right. In actual fact, crime in general and capital crimes in particular are so politicized in Texas that accuracy – and therefore justice – is persistently made subservient to convictions, and anything that might undermine that system is considered a threat."
MICHAEL KING: THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE;
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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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"Molly Ivins often noted that persistent observers of Texas politics learn one invaluable lesson: Things can always get worse," the Austin Chronicle column by Michael King begins, under the heading, "Point Austin: Learning From Experience: The things they won't tell you in Texas schools."
"I've been reminded of this nugget of wisdom by a couple of stories in the news this week," the column continues.
"First, there's the absurd resolution pending before the State Board of Education that Texas public school textbooks are too favorable toward Islam and biased against Christianity, and therefore the board needs to act to prevent this continuing outrage. Secondly, there's the ongoing attempt by Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley to make certain that the state's Forensic Science Commission – upon which he was imposed as chair by Gov. Rick Perry – discontinue any attempts to actually do its job, which is to review and reform the dismal condition of much of the state's supposedly scientific investigations of crime.
Maybe you missed the big news that the Lubbock City Council is just moments away from imposing Shariah within city limits, and the Waxahachie council of elders is seriously considering requiring all female residents to wear burquas – just in time for the fall fashion season. That makes about as much sense as the willingness of the SBOE to seriously consider a resolution – proposed by a defeated Odessa SBOE candidate, no less – to end the "pro-Islamic/anti-Christian distortions in social studies texts." This ingrained textbook bias no doubt accounts for the thousands of Texas students arriving at high school as devout Baptists and Methodists and brisket aficionados, only to depart four years later as dedicated adherents of Islam – having somehow acquired heathen tastes for hummus, falafel, and non-American football.
Next thing you know, River Citians, they'll be taking up pool instead of billiards.
Like much of what the board does, the whole matter would be laughable, except that it is part and parcel of the current nationwide, venomous racial hysteria against anything considered "Muslim" or Arabic. The madness ranges from politically manufactured outrage over a "Ground Zero Mosque" that is neither at Ground Zero nor a mosque to copycat actions, some involving literally terrorizing violence, against mosques elsewhere. At its absolute worst, the media-fanned hysteria beats the drum for expanded war in the Middle East, heralding demands by U.S. politicians for military attacks on Iran, even though the threats alone violate international law.
Although the primary elections reflected a potential voting trend toward SBOE moderation, the current makeup of the board hasn't yet changed, and the loonies are just as likely as not to prevail on this issue as they have on other curriculum matters. It doesn't matter that the resolution condemns out-of-print books that haven't been used for years or that it employs a line-counting method of proving "bias" that is both inaccurate and preposterous, akin to arguing that the Ten Commandments are unimportant because they take up so little space in the Bible. Generating this kind of rancid nonsense is not about logic or accuracy; it's about maintaining reactionary pressure on the public schools, ignoring much more substantive issues like adequate resources and funding and preserving the delusion that only Christian warriors can hold the line against the onrushing Islamic hordes – you know, the Islamic hordes laying siege to Nacogdoches, right this minute, if only the lamestream liberal media would condescend to report it.
Where There's Smoke
It's often difficult to know whether the SBOE theatricals constitute farce or tragedy, but at the Forensic Science Commission, there's no doubt it's the latter. In a minimal attempt by the Legislature to inject some accurate, current science into Texas prosecutorial forensics – which bear no relation to the high-dollar magic acts featured on CSI – the commission is currently mired in a prolonged struggle over the Willingham debate, a review of the "fire science" (or lack of it) at the heart of a conviction for a 1991 fire that eventually resulted in the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham for the arson-murders of his three daughters.
Subsequent scientific review has strongly suggested not only that Willingham was innocent but that the fire itself was likely of accidental origin – and that the Corsicana fire investigators should have known enough to come to the same conclusion. D.A. Bradley has already accomplished his primary, if not express, purpose – to delay any commission conclusions about the investigation beyond the November election, since the undermining of an execution might cast a cloud on Gov. Perry's re-election campaign.
You might think that accurate forensic science is a sufficiently nonpartisan issue that everyone, most especially prosecutors, would want to get it right. In actual fact, crime in general and capital crimes in particular are so politicized in Texas that accuracy – and therefore justice – is persistently made subservient to convictions, and anything that might undermine that system is considered a threat.
Last week, wannabe attorney-general-in-waiting Bradley was visibly enraged that scientists on the commission rejected his staff-drafted report that would have exonerated the Willingham fire investigators without any serious review. Now he will have to preside over substantive discussion of the matter, perhaps even enduring testimony from forensic scientists who believe they can show that the Willingham investigation was clumsily botched. Bradley's not likely to change his mind – like Perry, he appears to believe that a conviction, however achieved, is synonymous with guilt – but perhaps a few more legislators, as well as citizens at large, will be persuaded that our criminal justice system and our institutional eagerness to execute often ride headlong and roughshod over constitutional protections and the due process of law.
As it happens, the October Texas Monthly features a lengthy and thorough recounting by Pamela Colloff of the Anthony Graves capital murder case – a Burleson County tale that features a sensationally heinous multiple murder, a long history of careless investigation and prosecutorial negligence and misconduct, as well as sloppy forensic science made to serve the prosecution's presumptive conclusions instead of accuracy and justice. As Chronicle readers who have followed Jordan Smith's years-long coverage of the case will know, Graves, on death row for nearly two decades, is almost certainly innocent and most certainly did not receive a fair trial. Although his conviction was finally overturned many years later, he is scheduled for retrial on the original charges next spring – and the prosecution appears determined to use, and the court to allow, the same tainted evidence against him.
Maybe someday, God willing, they'll teach this stuff in the Texas public schools."
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The column can be found at:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/issue/column?oid=oid%3A1087302
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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;