"While scientists, attorneys, death penalty opponents and some Texas lawmakers criticized the governor for his handling of the case, and The New Yorker magazine published a critical examination of it, Perry has not suffered political consequences as a result.
Perry's challenger in last year's Republican gubernatorial primary, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, did not make the Willingham case a central campaign issue. Bill White, Perry's Democratic opponent in the general election, made more of an issue of the Willingham case, but it still never caught on with Texas voters.
Harvey Kronberg, publisher and editor of the Quorum Report, a Texas political report, said the issue might resonate more with general election voters nationally if coupled with other issues that nick at the governor's leadership or character."
REPORTER STEVE MILLS: THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE;
MARK CALENDER NOW: IMPORTANT JOINT NPR, FRONTLINE, PROPUBLICA INVESTIGATION OF CHILD DEATH CASES INVOLVING ABUSE, ASSAULT AND "SHAKEN-BABY SYNDROME." ASKS IF DEATH INVESTIGATORS ARE BEING PROPERLY TRAINED FOR CHILD CASES; FIRST OF THREE SEGMENTS ON "THE CHILD CASES" AIRS ON JUNE 28 AT 9.00 PM:
When a child dies under suspicious circumstances, abuse is often suspected. That's what happened in the case of six-month-old Isis Vas, whose death was deemed "a clear-cut and classic" case of child abuse, sending a man named Ernie Lopez to prison for 60 years. But now a Texas judge has moved to overturn Lopez's conviction, and new questions are being asked about the quality of expert testimony in this and many other similar cases. In this joint investigation with ProPublica and NPR, FRONTLINE correspondent A.C. Thompson unearths more than 20 child death cases in which people were jailed on medical evidence -- involving abuse, assault and "shaken-baby syndrome" -- that was later found unreliable or flat-out wrong. Are death investigators being properly trained for child cases? The Child Cases is the first of three magazine segments airing June 28 at 9 p.m. (check local listings);
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-child-cases/
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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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"AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has presided over 231 executions, more than any governor in the death penalty's modern history. If he runs for president, one of those executions may become a campaign issue — a case involving questions of whether he allowed an innocent man to be put to death, then tried to scuttle a state commission's investigation into the matter," the Chicago Tribune story by reporter Steve Mills published on June 25, 2011 under the heading "Gov. Rick Perry's role in possible wrongful execution may hurt campaign chances: Days before Cameron Todd Willingham went to his death proclaiming innocence, fire scientist cast doubt on his guilt," begins.
"The execution of Cameron Todd Willingham drew little attention when it took place in February 2004. But in the subsequent seven years, the way Perry handled the execution and an ongoing investigation into the case has become controversial. A presidential bid would likely increase the scrutiny, particularly as the Republican governor becomes better known," the story continues.
Whether the scrutiny would influence the outcome of the presidential campaign is another question.
When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992, he rushed back to Arkansas from New Hampshire as the Gennifer Flowers scandal broke to preside over the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, who was so brain damaged from a gunshot wound to the head that he saved the dessert from his last meal in hopes of eating it later.
There was only a smattering of protest, and the execution of Rector did not slow Clinton's campaign.
And though reporters pored over George W. Bush's support for the death penalty while he was Texas governor and examined several controversial executions, what became an issue were allegations that Bush had ridiculed convicted murderer Karla Faye Tucker for claiming she had had a Christian conversion.
"There's something there, but to my mind it's not going to be Willingham or the death penalty alone," said James Henson, who teaches government at the University of Texas and is the director of the Texas Politics Project. "But with something else, it may get voters to take a longer and more critical look at Perry."
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, agreed. If Perry runs, he said, opponents and the media will explore the issue and, in conjunction with other issues, it could become a problem for Perry.
"One inevitable consequence of actually running for president, everything a candidate thinks is closed is opened again. He dealt with it in the state, but he really never dealt with it in the national scene," said Sabato. "In a general election, it'll be an issue."
Willingham was executed by lethal injection after being convicted of setting a fire that killed his three daughters before Christmas 1991. But his case and the ensuing controversy frame the death penalty in a new way: whether Perry used his power as governor to try to dodge responsibility for presiding over the execution of a potentially innocent man.
At Willingham's trial, Texas fire investigators said they found clear indicators that the fire at the Willingham home in the small town of Corsicana had been intentionally set. Prosecutors said Willingham set the fire because his kids, 2-year-old Amber and 1-year-old twins Karmon and Kameron, got in the way of his beer-drinking lifestyle.
By the time of Willingham's execution, the science of fire investigation had dramatically advanced. What many investigators had for decades considered telltale signs of arson were no longer considered reliable.
In the days before Willingham was put to death, his lawyer filed with the courts a report from Gerald Hurst, one of the nation's most renowned fire scientists. His four-page report asserted for the first time in the case that the indicators of arson the investigators cited had been debunked by the scientific advances.
The fire, Hurst concluded, might well have been an accident.
"In death penalty cases, there's always paperwork filed at the last minute," Hurst said in a recent interview at his home in Austin. "Along comes a piece of work from an expert; they probably think experts are for sale. I expected to lose."
Perry reviewed the report and determined it did not present new information, although in fact it did. He also decided it did not merit a stay of execution, according to Lucy Nashed, a Perry spokeswoman.
Perry has declined to release a memo from state lawyers advising him on the evidence in the case.
Willingham went to his death proclaiming his innocence.
"In Texas," Nashed said, "if you murder your three children, you can expect to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. … (Willingham's) conviction was reviewed and upheld by multiple levels of state and federal courts, including nine federal courts — four times by the U.S. Supreme Court alone — over the course of more than a decade."
The Tribune investigated the case in December 2004. As part of that investigation, the newspaper had experts review the evidence. Those experts agreed with Hurst, saying the arson finding was inappropriate. A short time later, the Texas Forensic Science Commission was formed to examine the use of forensic evidence and selected the Willingham case as its first investigation.
In 2009, as the commission neared having testimony from its own expert and issuing a final report, all indications were that it would find that the science in the case was deeply flawed. Even without a declaration that Willingham had been wrongly executed, the implication would be that the initial arson finding had been unsupported, undermining the conviction and shining an unflattering light on Perry.
At that time, Perry replaced the panel chairman, Austin attorney Samuel Bassett, and two other members, and named John Bradley, a prosecutor and political ally, the new chairman. Bradley immediately slowed the Willingham investigation and questioned whether the commission should even consider the case. In response, Bassett went public with allegations that Perry's top aides had twice called him to meetings and pressured him over the direction of the Willingham inquiry.
"They wanted somebody who shared their views of what the commission should be doing," Bassett said in a recent interview.
Bassett said that Perry never thought the commission would dig so deeply into the Willingham case.
"Once we went in that direction, they were fearful of the commission making the governor look bad," Bassett said. "But that was never our intention."
Nashed, the Perry spokeswoman, said the replacement of Bassett and two other members was routine.
When questioned about his shuffling of the forensic science commission, Perry took an unusual tack: He denounced Willingham as a "monster" whose guilt was never in doubt.
While scientists, attorneys, death penalty opponents and some Texas lawmakers criticized the governor for his handling of the case, and The New Yorker magazine published a critical examination of it, Perry has not suffered political consequences as a result.
Perry's challenger in last year's Republican gubernatorial primary, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, did not make the Willingham case a central campaign issue. Bill White, Perry's Democratic opponent in the general election, made more of an issue of the Willingham case, but it still never caught on with Texas voters.
Harvey Kronberg, publisher and editor of the Quorum Report, a Texas political report, said the issue might resonate more with general election voters nationally if coupled with other issues that nick at the governor's leadership or character.
"It's one of many things that may take a little luster off the rose for general election voters," said Kronberg, who has long followed Perry. "It could be part of a series of stories that at least earn Perry a second, more critical look.""
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The post can be found at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-perry-execution-20110625,0,4971679.story
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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 found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
