Texas Editorials Call for Open Willingham Investigation

The Dallas Morning News publishes the editorial, "Arson-murder conviction deserves another look."  It appeared Saturday.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles should investigate a new application for posthumous pardon for Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed after being convicted of an arson-murder in Corsicana.

The board may not be the best venue for analyzing this politically charged case, and an inquiry might not produce the definitive result Willingham’s family wants, but the festering questions aren’t going away — nor should they.

The board should start by examining its own role in rejecting a last-minute reprieve before Willingham’s execution in 2004 and whether it properly served Gov. Rick Perry. The governor should be concerned about whether his office and his appointed board had all relevant information and gave it the attention it deserved.

Someone, after all, briefed Perry before he proclaimed Willingham a “monster” in 2009 and said there was no doubt that Willingham set the 1991 house fire that killed his three young daughters. Perry’s jarring statement came during upheaval over the Texas Forensic Science Commission’s decision to take up the case as its first investigation into the quality of forensic work in Texas’ criminal justice system.

Today, we know much more about the case against Willingham and the state’s contention that it was an arson fire, as opposed to accidental. A reasonable person would have clear reason for doubt, despite Willingham’s background as a paint-sniffing two-bit thief with a reputation for domestic violence.

"Open, thorough investigation needed in Willingham case," is the Austin American-Statesman editorial.

Cameron Todd Willingham’s guilt or innocence should be a matter of evidence explored, not death penalty politics debated.

The evidence thus far says faulty arson claims were used to convict the Corsicana man for setting fire to his house and killing his three young daughters. Prosecutorial misconduct also may have contributed to Willingham’s conviction, according to evidence presented last week by the Innocence Project.

The group asked Gov. Rick Perry on Friday to order a state investigation into whether Willingham was wrongfully executed in 2004 and should be posthumously pardoned. The Innocence Project previously supported fire research that led to a report by the Texas Forensic Science Commission that discredited the arson claims used to convict Willingham.

Neither the discredited fire claims nor the possibility of wrongdoing by prosecutors cited by the Innocence Project settles the issue of Willingham’s guilt or innocence. Given the years that have gone by since his conviction in 1992 and the circumstantial nature of much of the rest of the case against him, producing a conclusive answer about Willingham’s guilt or innocence might be impossible. But the time is past due for the state to try to determine the truth.

The Statesman editorial has been reprinted by the Odessa American as, "Willingham case needs full probe."

Earlier coverage of Todd Willingham begins 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.