"Update 5:23 p.m. An Austin appeals court has ordered Judge Charlie Baird to halt his inquiry into whether Cameron Todd Willingham was wrongfully executed in 2004 and whether there is probable cause that state officials committed a crime in their handling of Willingham’s case prior to his execution. The Austin American-Statesman obtained an order by the 3rd Court of Appeals from the court clerk just prior to 5 p.m. today, after Baird heard several hours of testimony on the case. By that time, Willingham’s lawyers had announced that they were through presenting evidence.
Baird said he would take the case under advisement and issue formal findings of fact at a later date if they that is warranted. It is unclear when Baird received notice of the appellate court’s decision, issued after Navarro County District Attorney R. Lowell Thompson filed a petition for writ of mandamus and emergency motion for immediate stay. The order, signed by Chief Justice Woodfin Jones, orders the parties to resPond by Friday at 5 p.m. on Friday, October 22."
DRUE MYERS JOURNAL; Drue Myer's describes himself as: "(A) broadcast journalist by trade. My radio career began in Central Indiana at age 15 and has taken me to stations in the ARB Top-10 including Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Tampa/St Petersburg and Houston. Stories that I have authored and reported have been carried by UPI, AP and CNN..."
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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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"Former Texas Governor Mark White said today that Cameron Todd Willingham, the man put to death in the Texas death chamber for killing his three young daughters in 1991 was innocent. “The state of the testimony that convicted him has been impugned today,” said White, who said. “Every shred of evidence points conclusively to his innocence.” White said that Willingham should be posthumously exonerated," the Drue Myer's Journal entry filed earlier today under the heading, "Former Governor says man put to death was innocent," begins.
"The statement by White came after a Texas judge rebuffed a request to step aside Thursday and opened a hearing into allegations that a man executed for the killings of his three daughters was put on death row by "junk science," the story continues.
"The family of Cameron Todd Willingham has asked District Judge Charlie Baird to posthumously clear Willingham's name, arguing that state officials ignored an expert's last-minute findings that the fire that killed his daughters in December 1991 was not deliberately set. The science that supported the prosecution's case "had been discredited 10 years earlier," Gerry Goldstein, a lawyer for the family, told the judge.
Willingham was put to death in February 2004, insisting in his final statement that he was innocent. Authorities in the town of Corsicana, where the fire took place, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who allowed the execution to go forward, have stood by the conviction. Navarro County District Attorney Lowell Thompson last week asked Baird to step aside. Thompson argued that the judge's impartiality was called into question by the fact that he sat on the state Court of Criminal Appeals when it upheld Willingham's conviction and wrote a concurring opinion supporting the ruling. In addition, he argued, Baird received an award in February from the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Cameron Todd Willingham was executed and probably innocent of his crime.
Baird rejected Thompson's motion Thursday, finding that the prosecutor's office was not a party to the family's request for a "court of inquiry," a rare proceeding under Texas law. "I just don't believe that you, in your capacity as the Navarro County district attorney, are a part of this lawsuit," Baird said. Thompson left the courtroom after the ruling without participating in Thursday's hearing, which was held to determine whether there is enough evidence of a wrongful conviction to open a court of inquiry. The proceedings are separate from the long-running investigation being conducted by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which is scheduled to take up the Willingham case again Friday.
Willingham's relatives have the support of The Innocence Project, which requested the Forensic Science Commission's investigation. The group's founder, defense lawyer Barry Scheck, appeared in court Thursday to argue for a court of inquiry, telling Baird the testimony of a state fire marshal who was the prosecution's key witness was "completely wrong and misleading." The fire marshal, Manuel Vasquez, told jurors in Willingham's trial that evidence at the scene of the fire showed the blaze was set intentionally with a flammable liquid. "Given the science that we know today," Scheck said, that testimony is "false, misleading and totally unreliable."
Fire scientist John Lentini, who reviewed the Willingham case after the execution, told Baird that some of the indicators Vasquez relied on to reach his conclusions were outdated at the time -- and nearly all were considered obsolete by the time Willingham was executed. "A lot of people believed that back in 1991," Lentini said. "Now in 2004, nobody believed that." Vasquez died in the mid-1990s, but the state fire marshal's office has reaffirmed his findings -- a stance Lentini said was impossible to square with modern fire science. "You can't make it go away just by saying, 'We stand by the original conclusions,' " he said.
Willingham's daughters -- 2-year-old Amber and 1-year-old twins Karmon and Kameron -- died in the blaze in Corsicana, south of Dallas. His ex-wife, Stacy Kuykendall, told reporters outside the Austin courthouse last week that Willingham had confessed to her in the days before his execution that he had started the fatal fire. "He burnt them," Kuykendall said. "He admitted he burnt them to me, and he was convicted for his crime. That is the closest to justice that my daughters will ever get." Willingham never publicly admitted guilt, and his family has questioned Kuykendall's account of the confession.
Update 5:23 p.m. An Austin appeals court has ordered Judge Charlie Baird to halt his inquiry into whether Cameron Todd Willingham was wrongfully executed in 2004 and whether there is probable cause that state officials committed a crime in their handling of Willingham’s case prior to his execution. The Austin American-Statesman obtained an order by the 3rd Court of Appeals from the court clerk just prior to 5 p.m. today, after Baird heard several hours of testimony on the case. By that time, Willingham’s lawyers had announced that they were through presenting evidence.
Baird said he would take the case under advisement and issue formal findings of fact at a later date if they that is warranted. It is unclear when Baird received notice of the appellate court’s decision, issued after Navarro County District Attorney R. Lowell Thompson filed a petition for writ of mandamus and emergency motion for immediate stay. The order, signed by Chief Justice Woodfin Jones, orders the parties to resond by Friday at 5 p.m. on Friday, October 22."
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The story can be found at:
http://druzifer.livejournal.com/403102.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://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
