RELEASE: "New evidence suggests Cameron Todd Willingham prosecutor deceived Board of Pardons and Paroles about informant testimony in opposition to stay of execution."
GIST: "The Innocence Project has filed new documents with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles in its posthumous pardon petition for Cameron Todd Willingham pointing to new evidence, including a notation on the DA’s own file, strongly suggesting that jailhouse informant, Johnny Webb, received a deal from Navarro County District Attorney John Jackson in exchange for his testimony. This new evidence also strongly suggest that Jackson, who had since become a district court judge, deceived the Board of Pardons and Paroles and the Navarro County District Attorney’s Office about the existence of a deal, which had they known about, would have almost certainly spared Willingham’s life.........
After Willingham’s execution, the Innocence Project asked
the then newly formed Texas Forensic Science Commission to investigate
Willingham’s case and the case of Ernest Willis who was convicted based on
similarly flawed evidence but later exonerated for the arson murder that put
him on death row. During the course of
that multi-year investigation, nine of the nation’s leading arson scientists
reviewed the evidence in Willingham’s case and all agreed that the original
testimony of the fire investigators was based on outdated arson science. A
summary of these findings is available at http://www.innocenceproject.
The entire release can be found at:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#search/cates/144797c857e4ca34
See related New York Times story by reporter John Schwartz: "What
has changed is that investigators for the Innocence Project have
discovered a curt handwritten note in Mr. Webb’s file in the district
attorney’s office in Corsicana. The current district attorney, R. Lowell
Thompson, made the files available to the Innocence Project lawyers,
and in late November one of the lawyers, Bryce Benjet, received a box of
photocopies. As
he worked through the stack of papers, he saw a note scrawled on the
inside of the district attorney’s file folder stating that Mr. Webb’s
charges were to be listed as robbery in the second degree, not the
heavier first-degree robbery charge he had originally been convicted on,
“based on coop in Willingham.” Mr. Benjet recalled a “rush of excitement,” he said, and thought, “This is what we’ve been looking for.” The
Innocence Project submitted the note, which is not dated or signed, in a
new filing to the board asking that it be included as part of its
September request for a pardon. Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, called the note a “smoking pistol” in the case. “We’re reaching out to the principals to see if there is an innocent explanation for this,” he said. “I don’t see one.”"
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/us/evidence-of-concealed-jailhouse-deal-raises-questions-about-a-texas-execution.html?_r=0
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.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
