PUBLISHER'S VIEW: (EDITORIAL);
The Innocence Project has announced that it has discovered new evidence of possible prosecutorial misconduct which, if proven true, will indicate that a prosecutor deliberately took steps to secure false testimony which led inevitably to the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, an innocent man. The call for a thorough investigation into this wrongful execution comes from the Innocence Project, a highly credible organization that does not make such allegations lightly. The Innocence Project is acting in concert with surviving relatives who have been consistently sought answers so that there will be no other Cameron Todd Willingham's - and with Michael Morton, who has personally experienced prosecutorial corruption in Texas on a scale similar to that alleged in the Willingham case. Now that the Innocence Project's disturbing allegations have been made public, there is no way to put them back into the bottle. Unless they are investigated in an open, public way, they will fester and eat away at public confidence in Texas's criminal justice system. Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, is asking members of the public to write the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Rick Perry and ask them to thoroughly investigate the wrongful execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. I am adding my voice to this call, and hope that the readers of this Blog will respond as well.
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
STORY: "Citing new evidence, urging a posthumous pardon in 1992 case," by reporter Brandi Grissom, published by the New York Times on arrangement with the Texas Tribune, on September 26, 2013.
GIST: "Armed with what it says is new evidence of wrongdoing in the prosecution of Cameron Todd Willingham, the Innocence Project on Friday will ask Gov. Rick Perry to order the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to investigate whether the state should posthumously pardon Mr. Willingham, whose 2004 execution has become a lightning rod of controversy over the Texas justice system. “This is a terrible thing to not only execute somebody who was innocent; this is an individual who lost his three children,” said Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, a legal group that focuses on wrongful convictions. The organization says it discovered evidence that indicated the prosecutor who tried Mr. Willingham had elicited false testimony from and lobbied for early parole for a jailhouse informant in the case. The informant, Johnny Webb, told a Corsicana jury in 1992 that Mr. Willingham had confessed to setting the blaze that killed his three daughters. The Innocence Project also alleges that the prosecutor withheld Mr. Webb’s subsequent recantation. The organization argues that those points, combined with flawed fire science in the case, demand that the state correct and learn from the mistake it made by executing Mr. Willingham. Former Judge John H. Jackson, the Navarro County prosecutor who tried Mr. Willingham, said the Innocence Project’s claims were a “complete fabrication” and that he remained certain of Mr. Willingham’s guilt. “I’ve not lost any sleep over it,” Mr. Jackson said. Mr. Willingham was convicted, largely on the testimony of a state fire marshal, who said Mr. Willingham started the 1991 fire that killed his daughters. Several fire scientists, though, have concluded that the science underpinning that conclusion was faulty. In April 2011, the Texas Forensic Science Commission agreed. Now, Mr. Scheck said, his organization has discovered that prosecutors went to great lengths to secure false testimony from Mr. Webb, to repay him for helping secure the conviction and to hide the recantation." During the trial, Mr. Webb, who was in jail on an aggravated robbery charge, said he was not promised anything in return for testifying. But correspondence records indicate that prosecutors later worked to reduce his time in prison."
The Innocence Project has announced that it has discovered new evidence of possible prosecutorial misconduct which, if proven true, will indicate that a prosecutor deliberately took steps to secure false testimony which led inevitably to the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, an innocent man. The call for a thorough investigation into this wrongful execution comes from the Innocence Project, a highly credible organization that does not make such allegations lightly. The Innocence Project is acting in concert with surviving relatives who have been consistently sought answers so that there will be no other Cameron Todd Willingham's - and with Michael Morton, who has personally experienced prosecutorial corruption in Texas on a scale similar to that alleged in the Willingham case. Now that the Innocence Project's disturbing allegations have been made public, there is no way to put them back into the bottle. Unless they are investigated in an open, public way, they will fester and eat away at public confidence in Texas's criminal justice system. Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, is asking members of the public to write the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Rick Perry and ask them to thoroughly investigate the wrongful execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. I am adding my voice to this call, and hope that the readers of this Blog will respond as well.
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
STORY: "Citing new evidence, urging a posthumous pardon in 1992 case," by reporter Brandi Grissom, published by the New York Times on arrangement with the Texas Tribune, on September 26, 2013.
GIST: "Armed with what it says is new evidence of wrongdoing in the prosecution of Cameron Todd Willingham, the Innocence Project on Friday will ask Gov. Rick Perry to order the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to investigate whether the state should posthumously pardon Mr. Willingham, whose 2004 execution has become a lightning rod of controversy over the Texas justice system. “This is a terrible thing to not only execute somebody who was innocent; this is an individual who lost his three children,” said Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, a legal group that focuses on wrongful convictions. The organization says it discovered evidence that indicated the prosecutor who tried Mr. Willingham had elicited false testimony from and lobbied for early parole for a jailhouse informant in the case. The informant, Johnny Webb, told a Corsicana jury in 1992 that Mr. Willingham had confessed to setting the blaze that killed his three daughters. The Innocence Project also alleges that the prosecutor withheld Mr. Webb’s subsequent recantation. The organization argues that those points, combined with flawed fire science in the case, demand that the state correct and learn from the mistake it made by executing Mr. Willingham. Former Judge John H. Jackson, the Navarro County prosecutor who tried Mr. Willingham, said the Innocence Project’s claims were a “complete fabrication” and that he remained certain of Mr. Willingham’s guilt. “I’ve not lost any sleep over it,” Mr. Jackson said. Mr. Willingham was convicted, largely on the testimony of a state fire marshal, who said Mr. Willingham started the 1991 fire that killed his daughters. Several fire scientists, though, have concluded that the science underpinning that conclusion was faulty. In April 2011, the Texas Forensic Science Commission agreed. Now, Mr. Scheck said, his organization has discovered that prosecutors went to great lengths to secure false testimony from Mr. Webb, to repay him for helping secure the conviction and to hide the recantation." During the trial, Mr. Webb, who was in jail on an aggravated robbery charge, said he was not promised anything in return for testifying. But correspondence records indicate that prosecutors later worked to reduce his time in prison."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/us/citing-new-evidence-urging-a-posthumous-pardon-in-1992-case.html
Petition:A petition to Texas Governor Rick Perry and to the State of Texas to acknowledge that the fire in the Cameron Todd Willingham case was not arson, therefore no crime was committed and on February 17, 2004, Texas wrongfully executed an innocent man can be signed at:
http://camerontoddwillingham.com/?page_id=6
See Wrongful Convictions Blog post: "Will Texas admit it executed an innocent man?" ..."The Innocence Project has worked for years to exonerate Mr. Willingham, but Mr. Perry has argued that he was guilty. Scott Henson, author of the criminal justice blog Grits for Breakfast, believes the current effort may be successful when a new governor takes office in 2015, he said. Mr. Henson added, “Perry has made his position on the case pretty clear.”
http://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2013/09/27/will-texas-admit-it-executed-an-innocent-man/
Wikipedia: Cameron Todd Willingham page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Todd_Willingham
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
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/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Sent from my iPad
