Texas Executed an Innocent Man Just Five Years Ago

Despite evidence that he was innocent, Texas executed Cameron Todd Willingham on February 17, 2004. He had been convicted and sentenced to death for supposedly setting a fire that killed his three children in 1992. From the beginning, there was reason to believe that the fire was an accident, but state officials refused to consider that evidence.

Then, a year after his execution, Texas’ newly created Forensic Science Commission took up an investigation of the Willingham case. Craig Beyler, a fire scientist hired by the commission, recently reported that the investigators in the Willingham case had no basis on which to claim that the fire was caused by arson. The state of Texas is now on the verge of admitting that it executed an innocent person for a crime that never happened.

What went wrong in Willingham’s case is not particular to his case alone. Most significantly, faulty scientific evidence persuaded the jurors that the fire was arson when it was likely an accident. Next, false testimony from a jailhouse informant made them think that Willingham had made incriminating statements when he had not. Then eyewitnesses began changing their stories: Willingham went from a distraught father who had to be physically restrained from entering the burning house to save his children, to a man who didn’t show enough emotion as his children died. Willingham’s case was also tainted by inadequate representation. These factors, which led to the wrongful execution of Willingham, are common factors in cases of innocent persons who have been sentenced to death and later exonerated.

Similar problems arise in California too, as a statewide commission found. Established by the Senate, the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice spent three years investigating the causes of wrongful convictions in California. The Commission found a substantial likelihood of wrongful conviction in California due to faulty forensic science, false testimony by informants, mistaken eyewitness identifications, and inadequate defense, among other factors. Furthermore, bills to limit unreliable jailhouse informant testimony and reform eyewitness identification procedures were passed in California but later vetoed by the Governor.

“There can no longer be any doubt that an innocent person has been executed,” said Innocent Project Co-Director Barry Scheck. “The question turns to how we can stop it from happening again.”

Todd Willingham’s beloved children were taken from him by a terrible accident, and his life was taken from him by a terrible injustice. We cannot right the wrongs that took place, but we can improve our criminal justice system so we don’t make the same mistakes again.

For more information on the Willingham case, visit:

http://www.innocenceproject.org

http://www.newyorker.com

http://www.nytimes.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com