Texas Gov. Ducks Arson Investigation

categories: Death Penalty, innocence, wrongful convictions

Published October 01, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT

The Willingham case was getting too hot for Rick Perry.

In a surprising move yesterday, the Texas Governor removed three of the eight members of a state forensic panel that was set to review arson evidence in the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham at a public hearing on Friday. The panel's chairman and two other members were pulled by Perry, and Friday's meeting has been cancelled.

Willingham was executed in 2004 despite evidence available at the time that the arson science that led to his conviction was flat-out wrong. Further reports from independent arson experts since Willingham's execution have proven that he was innocent. I've written about the case before here and here.

Perry's move - two days before an arson expert was expected to testify that Willingham was convicted based on "myths" - certainly didn't fly under the political radar, however.

His opponent for the governor's office, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, questioned the move: "Why you wouldn't you at least have the hearing that the former member suggested, to find out what the facts are, when a man has been executed and now the facts are in dispute – just like DNA has given more tools to determine the facts," she said.

Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck compared the move to the Saturday Night Massacre, where special prosecutor Archibald Cox was fired in an attempt to prevent him from obtaining the Watergate tapes.

Alan Levy, an assistant district attorney removed by Perry yesterday, said the move may backfire:

Levy said Perry's timing was unfortunate and might raise suspicions of interference with the commission “whether they are justified or not.”

“This is a very important case and what this does is raise the temperature,” he said. “I think the results of that are not going to be good.”

More on Perry's move from JR at Daily Kos, Grits for Breakfast, the AP, Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News and The New York Times.

Full disclosure: When I'm not blogging here at change.org, I work as the online communications manager for the Innocence Project. Opinions expressed here are my own and do not represent the Innocence Project.

Share this Post

Comments (5)

http://camerontoddwillingham.com/?page_id=6

Sign the petition to Governor Rick Perry and the State of Texas to acknowledge that the fire in the Cameron Todd Willingham case was not arson, therefore no crime was committed and on February 17, 2004, Texas executed an innocent man.

Posted by Scott Cobb on 10/01/2009 @ 09:09AM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- 1 person likes this comment. Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Scott
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
Signed don't know if they even consider out of state folks. I do not understand why they are not giving this man Justice? Are they afraid of litigation??

Posted by Cherokee Fred Jesus on 10/01/2009 @ 04:12PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Cherokee Fred
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
Prior to Willingham's execution, Rick Perry received a report from Dr. Gerald Hurst revealing that the forensic analysis used to convict Willingham was entirely bogus. But Perry gave the go-ahead for the lethal injection anyway. Here's a case where evidence of the governor's culpability in executing an innocent man is far greater than the evidence used to condemn the one being executed.

Sadly, the Willingham tragedy is not unique. Bad science and a cavalier attitude toward physical evidence are ubiquitous. Willingham's case stuns us because its narrative arc is so compelling. And that's why Rick Perry wishes it would just go away.

Posted by william newmiller on 10/03/2009 @ 07:54AM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by william
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
Looks like the idiot governor just announced to the world that he's guilty of something here...

Curiouser and curiouser said alice.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 10/06/2009 @ 08:04PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Thomas
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
The governor should have given Willingham the benefit of the doubt and looked at the new evidence. Now he will always have on his conscience if he had a innocent man executed for something he didnt do. It is sad to see what our government comes too.

Posted by Laura Gilliam on 10/20/2009 @ 07:28PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Laura
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply

Add a Comment

For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

Comment

Check Spelling

Email me when there are new posts to this thread
Comment Policy

Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.

Author

Matt has worked and volunteered in various capacities in criminal justice reform for several years. When he's not blogging, he works as the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project. Views expressed here are Matt's, and don't represent the positions of the Innocence Project.