"Despite Concerns, Science Panel Will Restrict Inquests," is the title of Brandi Grissom's Texas Tribune report.
Whether they like it or not, members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission today agreed that they will use an attorney general’s opinion that severely limits the panel’s jurisdiction as a guideline for future investigations. What that means for the Cameron Todd Willingham investigation — the commission’s most important and controversial case — will be up for discussion Friday.
“While it is not binding on us, [the opinion] does carry some weight,” said commissioner Lance Evans, a criminal defense lawyer from Fort Worth.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott wrote in July that the commission could not investigate evidence gathered or tested before it was established Sept. 1, 2005. He also concluded that the commission’s authority is limited to labs accredited by the Department of Public Safety. The commission met Thursday for the first time since that ruling and since the appointment of Dr. Nizam Peerwani, the Tarrant County medical examiner, as its chairman.
During the first day of a two-day meeting, the commissioners outlined how they would use the attorney general’s ruling to make decisions about which new cases they would investigate.
The commissioners expressed frustration over the contradiction between Abbott’s interpretation of the statute and communications they had with legislators. State Sens. Rodney Ellis and Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, who worked on the 2005 law, had made clear their intent was to allow investigations of older cases.
Chuck Lindell writes, "Forensic science panel struggles under restrictions in Willingham case," for today's Austin American-Statesman.
The Texas Forensic Science Commission, which has already determined that unreliable science played a role in the conviction and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, will decide today whether to take additional action on the arson-murder case.
The commission is struggling to identify options after the attorney general's office recently determined that legislators, despite intending to give the agency broad investigative powers, instead wrote a law that provided an extremely narrow scope of authority.
Those limits became apparent Thursday when the panel, kicking off two days of meetings in Austin, dismissed four complaints for lack of jurisdiction — including two that commissioners believed deserved additional investigation.
Commissioners chafed at the restrictions.
"I respect the legal opinion, and I intend to abide by it, but I'd hate that by doing nothing (on these cases), the credibility of the commission is at stake," said Commissioner Sarah Kerrigan, a forensic toxicologist.
"It's an opinion, right?" asked Chairman Nizam Peerwani, the Tarrant County chief medical examiner. "What if we as a commission choose not to follow it? What are the consequences?"
The answer — that commissioners could be sued individually if they exceed their authority — quieted that line of discussion.
One complaint the panel reluctantly rejected involved Sonia Cacy, sentenced to 99 years for killing her Fort Stockton uncle by setting fire to his bed in 1991. Forensic tests found gasoline on his clothes, but Cacy was released six years later when new tests determined that gas had never been present.
"Executed man's relatives urge Texas panel to continue probe," by Matt Smith is at CNN.
Relatives of a man executed in 2004 urged a Texas state commission Thursday to continue probing claims that outdated scientific testimony put him on death row as members weighed a legal opinion restricting their authority.
"You can't uninvestigate a case you've already investigated," Patricia Cox, the cousin of executed convict Cameron Todd Willingham, told the Texas Forensic Science Commission. "You can't unacknowledge what you've already acknowledged."
Willingham was put to death for setting a fire that killed his three daughters in 1991, but several experts who have reviewed the testimony in his trial say the fire was likely not arson. A series of studies in the 1990s rendered obsolete most of the things investigators pointed to as proof the fire was deliberately set, they say.
The commission's investigation was delayed after Gov. Rick Perry, now a Republican presidential candidate, replaced its chairman and three other members in 2009. The former chairman, Sam Bassett, now accuses Perry of trying to derail an investigation into Willingham's execution, which the governor allowed to go forward.
Earlier coverage of the Forensic Science Commission meeting begins at the link.
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