Last Friday, ABC News' Nightline aired a report on the case of Cameron Todd Willingham. The report was titled, "Wrongly Executed?: Was a man put to death for a crime that he may not have committed?". Below is the video. The video on the top is part one. The video on the bottom is part two.
In the interview, John Jackson, the former prosecutor in the Willingham case who is now a judge, says that despite the report submitted to the Texas Forensic Science Commission by Dr Craig Beyler, he still believes Willingham was guilty. He cites as support his absurd argument that it is "very likely" that Willingham poured an accelerant on the floor in the pattern of a pentagram, which supports Judge Jackson's opinion that Willingham was a devil worshipper. He also says that Willingham being a fan of Iron Maiden and having fan posters "makes it more likely that he is a devil worshipper" (see second part above). Jackson's pentagram-pattern-pouring theory ignores the fact that "a finding of arson can not be sustained" by scientific analysis, as Beyler says in his report. If there was no arson, then there was no crime. Jackson's performance in this Nightline interview puts him in the running for being Texas' worst judge, although admittedly there is a lot of competition (e.g. Sharon Keller). Jackson is certainly a major embarrassment to the Texas judiciary.
The San Antonio Express News had an editorial this week titled "A lethal failure of justice in Texas" that says, "the overwhelming evidence is that investigators, prosecutors, court appointed defense attorneys, jury members, appellate judges, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and, finally, Gov. Rick Perry failed and Texas executed an innocent man".
The Dallas Morning News has found out what Gov. Perry thinks about the Willingham case:
“I’m familiar with the latter-day supposed experts on the arson side of it,” Perry said, making quotation marks with his fingers to underscore his skepticism.
Even without proof that the fire was arson, he added, the court records he reviewed before the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham in 2004 showed “clear and compelling, overwhelming evidence that he was in fact the murderer of his children.”
There is no video, so I can't tell where exactly Perry put his fingers. Did he put his finger-question marks around the word "experts"?
The author of the report to the Texas Forensic Science Commission is Dr Craig Beyler. He is chairman of the International Association for Fire Safety Science. Dr. Beyler holds a B.S. degree in fire protection engineering from the University of Maryland, a B.S. in civil engineering from Cornell, an M.S. in mechanical engineering from Cornell, an M.Sc. in fire safety engineering from the University of Edinburgh, and a Ph.D. in engineering science from Harvard.
Sounds like an "expert" to me, "Governor" Perry.
In order to prevent another innocent person from being executed, Texas needs to establish a moratorium on executions and create a commission to study the Texas death penalty system. Governor Perry is in denial that Texas executed an innocent person. If Perry wins re-election, another innocent person could be executed while he is in office because he will continue to do nothing. If someone defeats Perry next year, then the new governor should take action to reform the Texas death penalty system to prevent another innocent person from being executed.
Sign a petition to Governor Rick Perry and the State of Texas to acknowledge that the fire in the Cameron Todd Willingham case was not arson, therefore no crime was committed and on February 17, 2004, Texas executed an innocent man.
For background on the case of Todd Willingham read the 16,000 word article by David Grann in The New Yorker, "Trial by Fire: Did Texas execute an innocent man?".
Or read the report submitted to the Texas Forensic Science Commission by Dr. Craig Beyler in which he concludes, "a finding of arson could not be sustained".
The next meeting of the Texas Forensic Science Commission is October 2 in Irving, Texas. The meeting's agenda includes a discussion of the report from Dr Beyler.