"Texas: Governor Fires Chairman of Forensic Science Committee," is James McKinley's brief in today's New York Times.
Gov. Rick Perry replaced the chairman and two members of the state’s Forensic Science Commission, two days before the commission was to hear evidence that Texas executed an innocent man. The new chairman canceled the hearing, at which an arson expert was to present a report critical of the arson analysis that led to the conviction of the man, Cameron T. Willingham. Mr. Willingham, above, was executed in 2004 after being convicted of setting a 1991 fire in which his three children died. Governor Perry, who was in office at the time of the execution, has expressed confidence in Mr. Willingham’s guilt. “This is like the Saturday night massacre,” said Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project, which has been working on the case. “It’s like Nixon firing Archibald Cox to avoid turning over the Watergate tapes.” But a spokesman for the governor, Chris Cutrone, said the governor’s decision was “business as usual.”
The Dallas Morning News reports, "Perry removes panel appointees before hearing on flawed arson inquiry; new chair delays session," written by Christy Hoppe.
Gov. Rick Perry was blasted Wednesday after he swept three appointees from their jobs just two days before they were set to critically examine a flawed arson investigation that contributed to the execution of a Corsicana man.
The hearing of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, scheduled for Friday in Irving, was abruptly canceled by the new chairman the governor chose, Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley. He is considered one of the most conservative, hard-line prosecutors in Texas.
The commission was to hear from Baltimore-based Craig Beyler, a nationally recognized fire expert, who had been hired by the panel to review the Cameron Todd Willingham case. Beyler's long-anticipated report, released in August, called the Willingham fire investigation slipshod and based on wives' tales about how fire behaves and possible arson evidence.
Perry said his move was a typical use of his power on appointments, on which he has complete discretion. But Barry Scheck, co-director of the New York-based Innocence Project, compared the move to Richard Nixon during Watergate.
"This is like the Saturday night massacre," said Scheck, whose group also reviewed the Willingham case and found it lacking. "Rather than let this important hearing go forward and the report be heard, the governor fires the independent chairman and two other members of this commission. It's like Nixon firing [special prosecutor] Archibald Cox to avoid turning over the Watergate tapes."
Beyler concluded that no reasonable investigator could determine that the 1991 Corsicana house fire, which killed Willingham's three young children, was intentionally set. Others, including the prosecutor in the case, have conceded that that the arson investigation was flawed, but they have maintained that other evidence and Willingham's actions still point to his guilt.
The Willingham case has drawn national attention, and anti-death penalty advocates consider it the likeliest case in recent decades in which an innocent man was executed.
Perry had denied Willingham's request for a stay of execution five years ago. His lawyers asked the governor for the 30-day reprieve to give the courts time to review a new report that called the fire investigation into question. Willingham had always maintained his innocence.
The governor has questioned Beyler's findings and argued that there is other evidence of Willingham's guilt. And Perry told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the terms of the dismissed board members were expiring that and replacing them "was pretty standard business as usual."
"Perry shakes up agency investigating man's execution," is the title of the Austin American-Statesman report by Chuck Lindell and Jason Embry.
Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday named John Bradley — Williamson County's politically connected, tough-on-crime chief prosecutor — to lead a state agency that is investigating whether Texas executed a man based on a fatally flawed arson investigation.
Bradley replaces a defense lawyer, Sam Bassett of Austin, as chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission at a crucial time for the agency — the closing months of a politically sensitive and potentially explosive investigation into the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. The Corsicana man was convicted of setting a house fire that killed his three small children.
Defense lawyers and civil libertarians accused Perry, an avid supporter of capital punishment, of using his power of appointment to interfere in the investigation. Key Democrats in the Legislature, however, said they were willing to give Bradley time to begin work before forming an opinion.
The Forensic Science Commission made international news in August when a fire scientist it hired, Craig Beyler, concluded the arson ruling that was key to Willingham's 1991 conviction was based on bad science, unproven theories and personal bias by arson investigators.
The evidence, Beyler said, did not support an arson finding — raising the prospect that Texas executed an innocent man.
Beyler was to address the commission Friday, but Bradley canceled the meeting to familiarize himself with the agency's work, he said.
"I've got so much homework to do, I feel like I'm starting the first day of high school," said Bradley, who added that he had not yet read Beyler's report.
CNN International has, "Texas governor shakes up panel probing 2004 execution."
USA Today has, "Head of Texas probe into possible wrongful execution abruptly replaced."
"Arson probe delayed," appears in today's Corsicana Daily Sun.
Earlier coverage begins with this post; all coverage can be accessed through the Todd Willingham category index.
The Beyler report is here in Adobe .pdf format. David Grann's New Yorker article is noted here. The Innocence Project's Todd Willingham resource page provides a concise overview of the Willingham case with links to all relevant documents.
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