The Forensic Science Commission is meeting in Austin, today.
"Forensic commission to hear from experts again in Willingham case," is the title of Chuck Lindell's report in today's Austin American-Statesman.
The Texas Forensic Science Commission will hear from four fire investigation experts today as it continues to examine the science used to convict and execute Cameron Todd Willingham.
The special meeting in Austin, postponed from November, was sought by the commission's scientists to help them answer two key questions:
• What was the state of fire science in 1991 and 1992, and what were fire investigators then expected to know?
That's when two investigators used now-discredited techniques to conclude that Willingham intentionally set fire to his Corsicana home, killing his three young children.
• What responsibility did the State Fire Marshal's Office have to reopen its Willingham investigation, and similar arson cases, once the agency realized scientific advancements had vastly improved the practice of arson investigations?
The Dallas Morning News reports, "Forensic panel to hear from arson experts on Cameron Todd Willingham case." It's by Erin Mulvaney.
The Texas Forensic Science Commission will hear from arson experts for the first time today about the investigation that helped send a Corsicana man to his execution, continuing its two-year review of the case.
The commission voted in a previous meeting to hear from an expert panel about the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted of setting the 1991 house fire that killed his three daughters.
Since Willingham’s execution in 2004, experts have debunked the fire science and investigation techniques used to convict him.
The commission will hear testimony from Craig Beyler of Baltimore, John DeHaan of California, Houston fire official Thomas Wood and Ed Salazar from the state fire marshal’s office.
Beyler, whose testimony has been much-anticipated, was hired by the commission to review the case and wrote a scathing report against the Willingham investigation. The report said fire investigators relied on bad science, unproven theories and personal bias to incorrectly determine that the fire was arson.
Yamil Berard writes, "Expert testimony on 1991 arson investigation to begin today," for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
More than a year ago, the state panel charged with rooting out cases of bad forensic science was expected to hear testimony from one of the nation's top arson experts in the capital murder case of Cameron Todd Willingham.
Today, 15 months later, that expert, Craig Beyler, is scheduled to give his rendition of what happened during the house fire that killed Willingham's three children in 1991. Three other arson specialists are also expected to testify.
Willingham, a Corsicana mechanic, was convicted for setting that fire and executed in 2004. The Texas Forensic Science Commission is investigating whether junk science was used to wrongfully convict him and whether fire investigators were negligent.
"The commission is finally getting back to where it was -- it's taken them 15 months," said Stephen Saloom, policy director of the Innocence Project, which filed the original complaint with the commission in 2006. "It's extremely valuable that the commission finally get an opportunity to ask questions."
And:
The commission includes two members from Fort Worth: defense attorney Lance Evans and Dr. Nizam Peerwani, the Tarrant County medical examiner.
Peerwani has said that conclusions made by arson investigators in the Willingham case were wrong by today's standards. But, he has said, whether there is enough evidence to conclude that Willingham was guilty of killing his daughters is a question for the courts to decide.
Peerwani, whom Perry appointed to the commission a year ago, has listed flaws in the arson report that helped lead to Willingham's conviction and execution. Among them, he said, investigators were wrong to conclude that the fire that swept Willingham's home had multiple starting points and that patterns indicated the use of an accelerant. By current standards, none of the things cited by the investigators indicate arson, he said, but standards in the early '90s were evolving.
AP posts Michael Graczyk's "State panel reviews arson execution case." It's via the Houston Chronicle.
The execution of a Texas man for the fire deaths of his three small children is coming under renewed scrutiny as a state panel hears from arson scientists who have studied evidence that sent Cameron Todd Willingham to the death chamber seven years ago.
The Texas Forensic Science Commission was set to hear Friday from a panel of experts amid insistence from the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal organization specializing in wrongful conviction cases, that Willingham was convicted with faulty evidence and was innocent when he was put to death in 2004.
Dave Mann posts, "On Friday, Willingham Inquiry Finally Goes to the Experts," at the Texas Observer. Here's an extended excerpt:
Also scheduled to speak is John DeHaan—another giant in the field of fire science. DeHaan has written the book on fire investigation, literally. His Kirk’s Fire Investigation is the field’s most widely cited text. DeHaan, who’s based in California, typically testifies for the prosecution and has worked closely with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms over the years.
His testimony in several recent cases has landed DeHaan in some trouble. He offered the key evidence that convicted Curtis Severns—whose case the Observer profiled last year. (DeHaan testified that he believed Severns intentionally set the 2004 fire in his Plano gun shop, but the Observer investigation uncovered compelling evidence that the fire was accidental and that Severns is innocent. He remains in federal prison.) DeHaan also provided the key evidence that nearly sent a Louisiana woman named Amanda Hypes to death row for starting the fire that killed her children. Hypes was innocent, but DeHaan’s testimony helped get her indicted. She spent more than four years in jail awaiting trial. When the case was eventually thrown out due to procedural issues, DeHaan reconsidered his analysis and told prosecutors he was no longer sure of Hypes’ guilt. She was later released.
But unlike those cases, DeHaan has said from the beginning that the evidence against Willingham was flawed. He was one of four experts who examined the case at the request of the Chicago Tribune back in 2004 and found the evidence of arson lacking.
The commission will also hear from Thomas Wood, an investigator with the Houston Fire Department. And from Ed Salazar, the assistant State Fire Marshal.
It was an investigator with the State Fire Marshal’s office, Manuel Vasquez, who led the original fire investigation at the Willingham house and who compiled the flawed arson evidence. Vasquez has since passed away. Meanwhile, the State Fire Marshal’s office has stood behind his work in the case, even though nine national experts have called the evidence outdated, sloppy and false.
This will be the commission’s first meeting on the Willingham case since its confrontational hearing in September, when the scientists on the commission rebelled against Bradley’s attempts to wind down the investigation. Instead the scientists voted to expand the inquiry and begin hearing invited testimony.
It will also be the first action on the Willingham case since Gov. Rick Perry was reelected. With the governor having secured another four-year term, the Willingham inquiry may be drained of its political implications and focus instead on the wider problem with arson evidence. There are still 750 people in Texas prisons on arson convictions. Quite a few are likely innocent.
Mann will be tweeting from the FSC meeting. Mann has done excellent investigative reporting on forensics, including other arson cases. You can read some of that journalism at the link.
All Willingham coverage is available through the Todd Willingham index.
The Beyler report prepared for the Forensic Science Commission is here in Adobe .pdf format.
David Grann's September 2009 New Yorker article is noted here. Steve Mills and Maurice Possley first reported on the case in a 2004 Chicago Tribune series on junk science. The December 9, 2004 report was titled,"Man executed on disproved forensics."
The Innocence Project has a Todd Willingham resource page which provides a concise overview of the Willingham case with links to all relevant documents.
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