The state of Texas moves closer to declaring that they wrongly executed a man in 2004

[Seen the light]

I think this might have been lost in the Kennedy news yesterday.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-tc-nw-texas-execute-0824-082aug25,0,5812073.story

In a withering critique, a nationally known fire scientist has told a state commission on forensics that Texas fire investigators had no basis to rule a deadly house fire was an arson -- a finding that led to the murder conviction and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.

The finding comes in the first state-sanctioned review of an execution in Texas, home to the country's busiest death chamber. If the commission reaches the same conclusion, it could lead to the first-ever declaration by an official state body that an inmate was wrongly executed.

Indeed, the report concludes there was no evidence to determine that the December 1991 fire was even set, and it leaves open the possibility the blaze that killed three children was an accident and there was no crime at all -- the same findings found in a Chicago Tribune investigation of the case published in December 2004.

Willingham, the father of those children, was executed in February 2004. He protested his innocence to the end.

There's more if you click the link.

The Texas Forensic Science Commission was the body that hired the scientist to conduct the review in the first place, so I think there's a decent chance of them accepting his findings as accurate.

[HopeHoops]

1. Well, the admission would be a first - the wrongful execution certainly wouldn't.

Texas loves them some executions. But hey, they have their lead butcher back now. He's been plastered 24x7 since January, but at least he's back. Texas can keep him.

[Hamlette]

2. I can hardly read the clip you posted, no way I can read more

I'm against the death penalty. My greatest nightmare is that someone close to me is wrongly accused of something and I visit them on death row knowing they will be deliberately murdered by the state for something they did not do. (Think: your spouse, your child and you'll see how horrid my nightmare is.)

Can you imagine how horrid it would be to lose your three children in a terrible fire that you could not protect them from and then have the state accuse you? Of sitting on death row waiting all those years to die KNOWING you could never kill your children but the whole world thought you did? I'm sickened.

[merh]

3. Their expert report basically admits they made a mistake.

A fire investigation that led to the execution of a man in the deaths of
his three young children was so seriously flawed that its conclusion of
arson can't be supported, a fire expert hired by the state said in a new report.

In a report to the Texas Forensic Science Commission released Tuesday,
Craig Beyler said the fire investigation in Cameron Todd Willingham's case
didn't adhere to the standards of care in place at the time, nor to current standards.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4034286

[gratuitous]

4. Maybe if Mr. Willingham had shown some remorse?

They might have had some compassion for a man who murdered his three children by setting the house on fire. Oh wait; the fire may not have been set, there was no basis in fact or evidence to conclude that the fire had been deliberately set, and it might have been just a horrible miscarriage of Texas justice (if such a thing were even remotely possible)?

But that still doesn't excuse Willingham from maintaining his innocence to the end. Doesn't he know how terrible this will make some people feel? No regard whatsoever for people's feelings, Willingham. At least you could have had the charity to apologize for all the inconvenience your death will no doubt cause some high Texas officials, like Harry Whittington did when he got his face in front of Dick Cheney's shotgun.

[Subdivisions]

5. And if it is found that he was wrongly executed...

The State of Texas should be tried for MURDER, with the death penalty as a possible consequence.