"The commission’s final decision is not yet published, but it appears it will issue no definitive ruling about Willingham’s guilt or innocence. The Attorney General of the State of Texas will probably say the commission does not have that authority.
However, the commission has issued new guidelines for forensic testimony regarding arson, and they are a slap in the face of many previous arson investigators’ methods. In other words, this is an indirect way of saying that Willingham was probably innocent."
ROGER OLSON: AMERICAN BAPTIST PRESS; (Roger Olson is professor of theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University. This commentary is from his blog and is used with permission.)
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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
For an important critique of the devastating state of arson investigation in America with particular reference to the Willingham and Willis cases, go to:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/01/fire-investigation-great-read-veteran.html
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"ABP) -- A controversy is raging over capital punishment in Texas -- a state that executes upwards of 30 to 35 people (almost all men and disproportionately African-American and poor) annually," the Associated Baptist Press commentary by Roger Olson published earlier today under the heading, "Opinion: Capital punishment is sin," begins.
"Most Texas Christians favor capital punishment even though it has been shown repeatedly not to be a deterrent to crime. Life in prison serves just as well for that," the commentary continues.
"In 1991 a house fire killed three children in a small Texas town. The father, Cameron Todd Willingham, by most accounts not a particularly good citizen, was arrested and convicted of murder. A major contributing factor to his conviction was the testimony of three Texas “experts” who testified the fire was most definitely arson.
Willingham, age 36, was executed by lethal injection years later. He denied playing any role in his children’s deaths to his dying day.
Long after Willingham’s execution, the Innocence Project brought forth the top arson experts in America who declared the evidence against Willingham flawed. In fact, they all agreed the fire that killed his children was not arson. The testimony used against him at trial was, they say, “junk science.” Within the last year Dateline aired an episode about this phenomenon -- people being convicted of arson and murder based on what is now known to be junk science.
The Texas Forensic Science Commission took up the case and has been studying the evidence and testimony for over a year. Just as they began their deliberations, the governor fired the chairman and replaced him with a well-known pro-capital punishment district attorney who, by some accounts, has hampered the investigation.
The commission’s final decision is not yet published, but it appears it will issue no definitive ruling about Willingham’s guilt or innocence. The Attorney General of the State of Texas will probably say the commission does not have that authority.
However, the commission has issued new guidelines for forensic testimony regarding arson, and they are a slap in the face of many previous arson investigators’ methods. In other words, this is an indirect way of saying that Willingham was probably innocent.
Capital punishment defenders, many who treat it like a sacrament, are bound and determined to claim that no innocent person has been executed in Texas. That seems highly unlikely -- especially as numerous African-American men are being exonerated of rape charges and convictions by DNA evidence and released from prisons, some after serving many years.
The problem is that after someone is executed evidence is often discarded and destroyed, which makes the task of exonerating them nearly impossible.
A few years ago a man was executed in Texas after his final appeal was denied. The appeals court declared there was no evidence he might have been acquitted even though his court-appointed attorney fell asleep during the trial.
A few years ago a 19-year-old man was convicted and sentenced to death because he shot and killed a man who was shooting at him. The teenager and his friends burglarized the man’s home. When the homeowner returned and caught them in his house he grabbed a gun and started chasing them through the house firing at them. He cornered them in a bedroom and shot at them repeatedly, clearly intending to kill them. One of them had a pistol and fired back at that point. The homeowner died and the 19-year-old was convicted and sentenced to die. He was executed less than a decade later.
These and other cases are written up in the new book The Autobiography of an Execution by David R. Dow, who served as attorney for numerous men on death row. According to Dow, by the time the young man was executed, he was completely rehabilitated and would never have done anything like that again.
There are several theological and ethical problems with capital punishment.
First, it ends a person’s opportunity to exonerate himself or herself.
Second, it ends a person’s opportunity to accept Christ and live a God-honoring life in prison ministering to other inmates and guards.
Third, it usurps God’s place and assumes a God-like right and power to take the life of a person created in God’s image and likeness.
Fourth, it has no social benefit. It only serves a blood thirst for vengeance.
Fifth, no modern, Western country still has capital punishment.
Sixth, capital punishment is barbaric and cruel -- if not to the person being executed (and who can know for sure?), to his or her family.
Seventh, innocent people are executed. A few years ago Ethel Rosenberg’s brother came forward and admitted publicly that he knew she was not complicit in the plot to steal American nuclear secrets and deliver them to the Soviet Union. He fingered her to help himself. She was electrocuted in 1953 leaving behind two small, traumatized boys.
For these and other reasons, capital punishment needs to be abolished and Christians ought to be in the forefront of that effort.
Most Christians who support capital punishment rely entirely on Old Testament material which was transcended by Jesus."
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The post can be found at:
http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/6326/9/
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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;
