Texas Justice?

On Thursday, December 9, 2004 the Chicago Tribune did a story on the possible execution of an innocent man in Texas. The article was written by Maurice Possley and Steve Mills. Certainly worth a read. Cameron Willingham was prosecuted for the murder of his three children after the home they rented in Corsicana, Texas went up in flames back in December of 1991. One of the key witnesses was a jail house snitch named Johnny Webb who testified that Willingham had confessed to him in the county jail. Webb also said that Willingham told him he had set the fire to cover up the physical abuse of the children by his wife. The children however, had no signs of physical abuse. That would seem to sink Mr. Webb's credibility.

In addition, the prosecutors used the testimony of Manuel Vasquez, a Texas state deputy fire marshall. At trial Vasquez testified that he had investigated 1200 to 1500 fires and ALL of them had been arson. He also testified he had NEVER been wrong. Every single fire he ever investigated arson? Not particularly likely, particularly when the Texas State Fire Marshall 1991 statistics listed arson as a cause in fires only 61% of the time. Basic math tells you that means back in 1991 4 of 10 fires in Texas were caused by something other than arson. Typically experts who reach the same conclusion 100% of the time are not viewed as particularly credible. And even more so when they are incapable of admitting a mistake.

In January of 2004, as the execution neared, a member of Willingham's family saw Gerald Hurst on television. Hurst is a Cambridge educated chemist who has made a career of investigating fires. He agreed to look into the case. In addition, Kendall Ryland, the Louisiana Fire Chief also looked into the case. Both men concluded that the fire was not arson. They considered 8 separate pieces of physical evidence used by the prosecution to convict. Their analysis demonstrated that the prosecution's interpretation of physical the evidence was simply inaccurate, based upon the current state of arson investigation techniques. Edward Cheever, one of the Texas state deputy fire marshalls who participated in the original investigation, acknowledged that the conclusions drawn by the prosecution regarding the physical evidence were not simply not accurate.

There was however, some non-technical, emotional evidence that may have helped convict the defendant. For example the day after this tragedy he apparently went through the debris looking for a dart board. And he gave a story where he made repeated attempts to rescue the children which weren't backed up by his physical injuries. And a chaplain who provided counselling apparently thought his grief wasn't very genuine. That testimony certainly didn't help the guy. But the fact remains that the scientific, objective evidence appeared to be flawed.

Finally, the article describes how Willingham, despite he findings of Hurst and Ryland, knew all along he wasn't going to get a reprieve. Reprieves don't happen in Texas.