Cameron Todd Willingham
A Texas judge is set to consider whether a man who was executed for setting a fire that killed his children was wrongly convicted on what his supporters call "junk science."
State District Judge Charles Baird granted a request from Cameron Todd Willingham's family for a hearing to investigate whether he was wrongfully convicted using flawed science. The family's petition, filed September 24 in Travis County, also asks the court to examine whether the state failed to adequately consider potentially exculpatory evidence before putting Willingham to death in 2004.
The lawsuit asks the court to repair Willingham's reputation by issuing a declaration that he was wrongfully convicted and to examine whether state officials committed official oppression in their handling of his appeals.
"Mr. Willingham's case, though tragic, is not unique. Rather, it exemplifies the systematic flaws in Texas' clemency process and habeas procedures that is proper for the Court of Inquiry to investigate," the petition states.
The closely watched case has been the subject of three independent reviews that have concluded the fire should not have been ruled arson. The most recent one, which was ordered by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, ruled in July that investigators used science available to them at the time, even though it was flawed.
Baird set the hearing for Wednesday and Thursday in 299th District Court in Austin, but a motion seeking the judge's recusal may postpone the proceeding.
Navarro County District Attorney Lowell Thompson, who prosecuted Willingham in 1992, filed the motion late Monday asking Baird to remove himself or to refer the motion to another judge to conduct a hearing on his fitness to hear the case, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
The motion cites several grounds. Among them are Baird's participation in the case as a member of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that voted to uphold Willingham’s capital murder conviction, the Statesman reported.
A district court judge may convene a court of inquiry - similar in form to an inquest in other states - if he has "probable cause to believe that an offense has been committed against the laws of the state," according to Texas statute.
Baird presided over the last instance of the rare judicial proceeding involving a man who died in prison while serving time for rape. The judge reversed Timothy Cole's conviction based on DNA evidence and a confession from another inmate.
Lawyers for Willingham's family claim that prosecutors relied on testimony from two Texas fire officials who said Willingham deliberately set fire to his home in Corsicana with his 3-year-old daughter, Amber, and 1-year-old twins, Karmon and Kameron, trapped inside.
While Willingham was on death row, a respected arson expert analyzed the case and discredited the bulk of the testimony, saying it was based on "completely unsupportable methodologies" and exacerbated by misleading testimony about the nature of arson investigations, according to court documents.
"But for this flawed testimony, Mr. Willingham would not have received a guilty verdict and a lethal injection," the petition states.
Moreover, the Willingham family claims, "despite overwhelming scientific evidence, state officials have continued to demonize Mr. Willingham and defend the arson evidence on which he and others have been convicted."
A spokeswomen for the governor's office said Gov. Rick Perry stands behind the conviction.
"Nothing the Austin court does can change the fact that Todd Willingham was convicted and sentenced to death by a jury of his peers for murdering his three young daughters. His then-wife has told reporters that he admitted his guilt to her while he was serving on death row. 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," Lucy Nashed said in an e-mail.
Perry has come under scrutiny for his handling of the case, with some accusing him of trying to quash the probe. Two days before the Texas Forensic Science Commission was to hear from an independent expert who had examined the case, Perry replaced three board members, prompting the session's postponement.
– CNN's Matt Smith contributed to this report.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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So let's play this out – if an innocent man is executed and there was prosecutorial prejudice and exculpatory evidence was not brought to light by the prosectution which is their obligation under US law, then are they not guilty of murder, and should not the prosecutor and any who assisted in the cover-up be executed? And since we know who the DA and the Governor were, there is no possibility of getting that wrong, then there is no reason even for a trial or any appeals. All you death penalty advocats whould follow your logic to the nth degree and be calling for the execution of the DA and the Governor, how about it? Actually it sounds like tyranny to me when officials start executing innocent people, don't all those Texans have guns and aren't they all talking about 2nd amendment rights and needing firearms to fight off the Tyrants? Sounds like if you people believed half of what you spout there would be an armed insurrection in Texas over this. Yeah, I thought so. YOu capital punishment gun nuts know about everything the chicken lays, except the egg.
I followed this case closely. Perry should be removed from office for his handling of it. And of course he won't back down from his WRONG assessment of it. This man was obviously wrongly convicted and murdered because of faulty evidence and testimony which should NEVER have been allowed. Textbook case of travesty of justice.
Good. We can find out if Governor Rick Perry is indeed a murderer.
Anybody here ever see the film "The Thin Blue Line"? I understand Justice Scalia hasn't ever seen a case where an innocent person was convicted and executed; maybe he should open his eyes a bit more.
THIS IS ALL ABOUT..... scamming MONEY out of the taxpayers in Texas..
It's all a scam. The very IDEA of reviewing the case of a man DULY CONVICTED BY A JURY OF HIS PEERS
makes a mockery of JUSTICE, THE LEGAL PROCESS, and the dignity of the Court.
The Jury has spoken. End of story.
ARE YOU WHITE PEOPLE CRAZY?
Have you all gone insane?
What has AMERICA come to?
No wonder this REPUBLIC is on the road to PERDITION.
ok -even if you can accept that a defense "expert witness" testifying after the defendent dies is more credible reviewing photos and a few artifacts – than the investigators that were physically on the scene... How can the DEFENDENT rebutt the testimony of his wife who said he confessed, and all the other evidence? This case was reviewed MANY times and many levels in our court system. There was ample time to bring an expert forward to refute the forensics. It is a waste of tax payer's dollars, which we do not have many of, to start second guessing every trial after the defendant is dead. enough already.
clr: the so-called experts used flawed science. Then, on appeals, actual experts testified, but were ignored. If an innocent man was really put to death by the state of Texas, the LEAST Texas can do is look into it, since they cannot undo their terrible mistake.
I imagine that you count yourself lucky to never have been convicted of a crime you didn't commit. If you ever are, I'd bet you'll sing a different tune...
If you read Kuykenall's statement posted 10/25/09 on the Star-Telegram, she says many things, but she does not explicitly state that he confessed to her. You may also want to investigate the incidence of coerced and voluntary false confessions, e.g. 25% of exonerations obtained via intervention by the Innocence Project involved false/coerced confessions.
Oh my...What a nightmare this family has been threw. The loss of all of those beautiful children n then their father. My Heart n Prayers Go Out 2 the Whole Family.
Seattlelou: If you were unfairly convicted by a jjury of your peers becasue they were given faulty evidence and the truth was held from them, you may rest assured all of the peolpe you are denigrating would come to your defense. Nice to know how a society is supposed to work isn't it?
Perry want s to restore the state to the confederate values. I you are not a North Dallas WASP watch out. he's a remnant from teabagger, racial intolerance
cross burning days.......Has he visited regular people in Oak Cliff, Arlington, Ft, Worth- Northside??
Will he even debate Bill White or hide behind wifes skirts and his high paid media spokesman?
td to close the case fast and kill the inquiries, made me wonder: whats the hurry, Rick........Did perry do it for truth or to cover up a corrupt system is the question? My impressionof Perry has always been he would reun over his grandmother for higher office. I did make the mistake of voting for him for Lt Gov in 96 or 98. Lord forgive me.
Yeah mr canada we all have guns down here. We are all are just waiting to seceed from the union which by the way then we could become our own nation.
"secede", r-tard.
Tom he wont even come to South or East Austin. Where do you think he now resides?
Governor Perry has done everything in his power to impede, halt, or otherwise stall this investigation. He refused to grant a stay of execution, mostly because he did not want to bother looking into it. Now he does not want to admit he allowed an innocent man to die.
An honest, decent governor would welcome the investigation, even if it led to an uncomfortable conclusion. Instead, Perry has tried to use political power to hide the truth.
We haven't had an honest decent governor here in Texas since Anne Richards. Just praying Bill White gets elected despite the three B's...bullies, bigots and believers.
Texas should go back to strictly executing retards.....before they become president of the united states.
Whether or not he was innocent, it is clear that (1) he would not have been found guilty except for the junk science and (2) Texas officials including the governor just did not care.
Most forensic science is junk science. You don't even need a college degree to practice it.