That's the title of Rick Casey's column in today's Houston Chronicle. LINK
Gov. Rick Perry made a brilliant choice in John Bradley to head the Texas Forensic Science Commission — at least for his own purposes.
But after a two-hour hearing Tuesday before Sen. John Whitmire's Criminal Justice Committee in which legislators grilled the Williamson County district attorney on his plans regarding the commission, it's far from clear that the governor's choice will serve the justice system.
Perry abruptly replaced the previous chairman with Bradley two days before a nationally prominent arson expert was to present to the commission a report that was harshly critical of the methodology through which local fire and police officials found that Cameron Todd Willingham had deliberately murdered his own children by setting his house on fire.
Perry had good cause to be concerned, since he had been sent a similar report by an established expert in the days before Willingham's execution but denied a request to delay the execution so the matter could be further explored.
The expert's report expressed no opinion about Willingham's guilt or innocence, or even about whether arson had taken place. It just said that the investigators had used bad and/or outdated understandings of fire science to reach their conclusions. What's more, the report was only one part of the evidence the commission was set to consider.
But advocacy groups, many in the media and politicians on both sides characterized the report as a judgment on Willingham's innocence, and it wasn't hard to foresee problems for Perry as the commission pursued its work on the case over the next few months.
Bradley, a highly regarded prosecutor, offered a stout defense for delaying indefinitely — certainly until at least after the March primary — the commission's Willingham investigation.
And:
Bradley said he has successfully sought help from a highly regarded Texas Supreme Court staffer for help in setting up the rules, and from the Texas Rangers for help in setting up investigative procedures.
It's safe to say they won't be ready before the March primary.
Bradley's testimony raised other concerns.
It may be natural for a prosecutor to turn to the Texas Rangers to help develop investigative procedures for the commission. But the job of the commission is to investigate science, not crime. The investigative procedures for that should be developed by forensic scientists, not members of a police agency that will be subject to the commission's review.
Or will it? Of even more concern is Bradley's assertion, at least twice, that the focus of the commission should be on accredited police labs. The labs are important, and a scandal in the Houston Police Lab led to the commission's establishment.
But the law recognizes that labs are only one part of forensic science. It also calls for the commission to investigate complaints about any accredited “facility or entity.” That includes arson investigators, police detectives and others.
Earlier coverage begins with the preceding post.
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