Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter Yamil Berard writes, "State forensic panel seeks AG's opinion on scope of its authority."
Members of the state's forensic oversight panel are asking the Texas attorney general's office to clarify whether the panel has the authority to investigate negligence or misconduct by certain Texas forensic scientists and criminal investigators.
Among the questions the Texas Forensic Science Commission has posed is whether its scrutiny is limited only to labs accredited by the state Department of Public Safety, and whether the commission is prohibited from investigating forensic fields that don't involve the DPS. State law, for example, already exempts medical examiners from the commission's purview.
But the key point raised in the commission's request is whether it has the ability to investigate cases in which "the evidence underlying the forensic analysis was tested or offered into evidence" years before the commission was created in September 2005.
If Attorney General Greg Abbott says the commission may only accept cases based on forensic analysis collected in or after 2005, the commission may have to abandon its review of the high-profile case of Cameron Todd Willingham, the Corsicana mechanic executed in 2004 for the murder of his three daughters.
"In an abundance of caution," the commission voted unanimously to seek the opinion to ensure that its actions meet state law, said member Lance Evans, a Fort Worth defense attorney. The request was signed by commission Chairman John Bradley.
Critics say the action is yet another tactic to push back the final determination on the case of Willingham, who was found guilty of setting the 1991 house fire that killed his children. The Willingham complaint was filed by the Texas Innocence Project in May 2006, but the commission hasn't made a final ruling on it.
"This is clearly someone's legal effort to prevent the commission from doing what the Legislature had intended for it to do," said Stephen Saloom, policy director for the Innocence Project in New York.
And:
Evans said the decision to seek Abbott's opinion would not delay the commission's work.
"The request for an AG opinion has not shut down the commission," Evans said Monday.
He said he hoped it would be delivered by the commission's regular meeting in April.
Earlier coverage begins with the post, "Additional Coverage of Friday's FSC Meeting," from last month.
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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