Man executed on disproved evidence

[Soxy]

Link (Trib Article)

 

Man executed on disproven evidence, experts say

 

By Maurice Possley

Tribune staff reporter

Published May 2, 2006, 10:00 AM CDT

 

Four of the nation's top arson experts have concluded that the state of Texas executed a man in 2004 based on scientifically invalid evidence, and they called for an official re-investigation of the case.

 

In a report scheduled for release Tuesday morning, the experts, assembled by the Innocence Project, a non-profit organization responsible for scores of exonerations, concluded that the conviction and 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham for the arson-murders of his three daughters was based on interpretations by fire investigators that have been scientifically disproved.

 

The experts were asked to perform an independent review of the evidence following an investigation by the Tribune that showed Willingham had been found guilty on arson theories that have been repudiated by scientific advances. In fact, many of the theories were simply lore that had been handed down by several generations of arson investigators who relied upon what they were told.

 

The report's conclusions match the findings of the Tribune, published in December 2004. The newspaper began investigating the Willingham case following an October 2004 series, "Forensics Under the Microscope," which examined the use of forensics in the courtroom, including the continued use of disproved arson theories to obtain convictions.

 

In strong language harshly critical of the investigation of the 1991 fire in Corsicana, located southeast of Dallas, the report said evidence examined in the Willingham case and "relied upon by fire investigators" was the type of evidence "routinely created by accidental fires."

 

Since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976, 1,020 men and women have been executed, with more than one-third {ndash} 362 -- in Texas.

 

Although more than 100 people have been released from death row in the United States during that same time, there has been no official conclusion by any government authority that an innocent person has been executed.

 

The arson report singled out the testimony at Willingham's trial of Manuel Vasquez, a deputy Texas state fire marshal, who said he found numerous indicators in the debris that he interpreted as evidence Willingham intentionally set the fire.

 

"Each and every one of the 'indicators' listed by Mr. Vasquez means absolutely nothing …, " the report states.

 

The report is scheduled to be unveiled at a 10 a.m. news conference in the state capital in Texas, attended by Barry Scheck, co-founder and director of the Innocence Project, as well as some of the report's authors and relatives of Willingham.

 

Scheck plans to turn over the report to the Texas Forensic Science Commission and request that the commission open an investigation of the prosecution of Willingham. The commission was created in 2005 to investigate allegations of "professional negligence or misconduct that would substantially affect the integrity of the results of a forensic analysis."

 

In addition to the Willingham case, the report examined the arson prosecution of Ernest Ray Willis, who was charged with the arson-murders of two women in Iraan, Texas, on June 11, 1986.

 

In 2004 -- a few months after Willingham was executed -- Willis, who was facing the death penalty in a retrial of his case, was released and the case dismissed after arson experts concluded there was no evidence the fire was intentionally set.

 

The report assessing the two cases notes that even though the interpretations of the physical evidence in the Willis case were the same as in the Willingham case, authorities in Texas have declined to say that Willingham was wrongly convicted and executed. The report said the "disparity of the outcomes in these two cases warrants a closer inspection."

 

Two days before Christmas in 1991, Willingham's wife left their house to pay bills and to shop for Christmas gifts for their 1-year-old twins, Karmon and Kameron, and their 2-year-old daughter, Amber.

 

Willingham testified that he was awakened about an hour later by Amber's cries for help and found the house full of smoke. Willingham escaped, but the children did not.

 

At Willingham's trial, Vasquez and Corsicana assistant fire chief Doug Fogg testified that the fire was deliberately set and pointed to numerous "indicators" as proof. One of those indicators was "crazed glass," a phenomena they said was caused by a fire that burned so hot and so fast that it could only have been caused by an accelerant.

 

But the new report notes that scientific testing has established that crazed glass can be caused by the act of spraying water on hot glass; in effect, the act of extinguishing a fire was being used to prove that the fire was an arson.

 

When he was strapped to the gurney to be executed, Willingham said, "I am an innocent man, convicted of a crime I did not commit."

 

The report urges authorities to examine other cases as well. "To the extent that there are still investigators in Texas and elsewhere, who [misinterpret fires], there will continue to be serious miscarriages of justice."

 

"In the cases of individuals already convicted using what is now known to be bad science [or no science], the courts should treat the 'new' knowledge as 'newly discovered evidence,' " the report states. "It was resistance to this concept that allowed the state to execute Mr. Willingham, even though it was known that the evidence used to convict him was invalid."

 

One of the four authors of the report, John Lentini, a private fire investigator who first examined the Willingham case at the request of the Tribune, is a leading proponent of grounding arson investigation in proven science.

 

The report by him and the other experts calls upon the criminal justice system to require arson investigators to have backgrounds in the science of fire, and asks that criminal defense lawyers be afforded funds to hire independent fire investigators. It also urges that participants in the justice system, particularly prosecutors, who decide whether to bring charges, be educated about scientific advances in fire investigation.

 

"There is no crime other than homicide by arson for which a person can be sent to death row based on the unsupported opinion of someone who received all of his training 'on the job,' " the report states.

[Texsox]

:headshake too bad we couldn't just release him from prison.

[AngelasDaddy0427]

Ohh come on... who gives a s*** he's dead... it's called spend the tax payers money on someone ALIVE!!!

[Texsox]

Ohh come on... who gives a s*** he's dead... it's called spend the tax payers money on someone ALIVE!!!

 

[AngelasDaddy0427]

Well I mean seriously... While we're f***ing around with innocent dead people they could execute 10 more innocent people...

[FlaSoxxJim]

Well I mean seriously... While we're f***ing around with innocent dead people they could execute 10 more innocent people...

Which points up the key problem with capital punishment and why it should be abolished. Mistakes will still be made as far as wrongful incarceration, but the mistakes will not be irreversible.

 

As far as the 'don't waste time and money on a guy who's alredy dead' rationale, there are two big problems with that. First, would you accept that line if it was a family member that was wrongfully executed because of shoddy investigative work. I would not, certainly. I would want to know what mistakes were made, by whom, and why.

 

Secondly, the posted story hilighted that it has yet to be conclusively determined that anybody has been wrongfully put to death. This may be the first provable case which could give pause to the pro capital punishment camp. Though maybe I'm being rather naive about Texans and how much they looove their death penalty. . .

[Queen Prawn]

Jim - love the avatar.

 

Back on topic, I seem to remember seeing a special about this recently. Or maybe it was someone else, but the circumstances seem to be very similar from what I remember. I am not going to lie, I am for the death penalty in certain cases, but stuff like this shows me how it is unfairly and inaccurately applied.

[Pants Rowland]

Jim - love the avatar.

 

Back on topic, I seem to remember seeing a special about this recently.  Or maybe it was someone else, but the circumstances seem to be very similar from what I remember.  I am not going to lie, I am for the death penalty in certain cases, but stuff like this shows me how it is unfairly and inaccurately applied.

 

That is why I commend former governor Ryan for his last actions in office. Despite his corruption, he seemed to have a profound moment of clarity when he realized the total inequity and flaws in the system. Many criticized his actions and questioned his motives, but the fact is this system is far too imperfect to administer such an irreversible punishment as death. The fact that the president of the USA still stands by this system is mind-boggling to me.