Cameron Todd Willingham, a man who was very probably innocent, was executed in 2004.

[Nye Bevan]

ON THE morning of December 23rd 1991 a fire destroyed a home in Corsicana, Texas shared by Cameron Todd Willingham, his wife and their three daughters. The fire killed the girls; Mrs Willingham was at the Salvation Army store shopping for Christmas gifts. Mr Willingham survived. The next year he was convicted of setting the fire. He was sentenced to death and executed in 2004.

His conviction rested on arson investigators’ findings and the testimony of Johnny Webb, a jailhouse informant who claimed that Willingham had confessed to him. Shortly before the execution, Willingham’s lawyers sent the governor and parole board a report from Gerald Hurst, another arson investigator, detailing multiple flaws in the first investigation. He concluded that the fire was caused by a space heater or faulty electrical wiring. Officials appear to have received this report before Willingham’s execution, but did nothing with it. Several independent arson investigators reached similar conclusions.

Willingham insisted on his innocence, refusing to plead guilty even to avoid execution. Mr Webb testified that, as he was passing Willingham’s cell, he heard him confess to having done the deed to cover up child abuse committed by his wife. But no bruises or signs of abuse were found on the children’s bodies.

Mr Webb recanted his testimony in 2000. He then recanted his recantation, but admitted to a journalist that “It’s very possible I misunderstood what [Willingham] said.” Mr Webb also testified that he was promised no benefit in exchange for his testimony. In February, however, lawyers working to get Willingham a posthumous pardon revealed a note discovered in Mr Webb’s file with the Navarro County prosecutor promising a reduced charge “based on coop[eration] in Willingham”. On April 3rd Texas denied Willingham a pardon. His lawyers can reapply in April 2016.

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21601279-texas-may-well-have-killed-innocent-man-irrevocable

A guy is executed because of a dubious arson finding that has been disputed by several independent investigators, plus the testimony of a jailhouse snitch who has recanted his testimony twice. And Rick Perry impeded the 2009 investigation into this case by replacing three of the nine commission members in an attempt to change their conclusion. (See http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/01/texas.execution.probe/index.html).

The atrocity that is the death penalty needs to be ended.

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. This is the one that brings me to tears...

He was held down by his neighbors to keep him from running back into the house. And they found him guilty anyway.

[Nye Bevan]

2. "Willingham’s first-degree and second-degree burns were consistent with being in a fire..."

Leading fire investigators who reviewed the case told me that Willingham’s first-degree and second-degree burns were consistent with being in a fire before the moment of “flashover”—that is, when everything in a room suddenly ignites. The Lime Street experiment, on which I go into great detail in my article, explains why what happened to Willingham was consistent with all the physical and scientific evidence.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/09/david-grann-response-to-jackson.html

[absquatulatewithme]

4. Counterpoint to the New Yorker article

Dr. Grady Shaw and his team spent an hour at the emergency room trying to resuscitate Amber while next door Willingham complained about his own suffering, Shaw said.

“I remember this case very clearly,” Shaw said. “She was in Trauma Room 1, and her father was placed in Trauma Room 2, and only a curtain separated those. He was whining and complaining and crying out for a nurse to help him because of the pain from his extremely minor burns while we were trying to resuscitate this child.”

Willingham’s first-degree burns on the backs of his hands and on the back of his neck were the kind that might come from accidentally touching an oven rack, or having a small ember pop up from a campfire, Shaw said.

“He was not hurting that bad from these minor burns,” Shaw said. “It was clearly audible what was going on next door, but to hear him doing all that complaining and asking for attention when everybody was trying to save the little girl’s life was grossly inappropriate.” - See more at:

http://www.corsicanadailysun.com/thewillinghamfiles/x46870673/-09-06-09-No-doubts?zc_p=4#sthash.zbwRlPGQ.dpuf

[Nye Bevan]

5. And does this make you totally certain that the guy was guilty?

Does this incident make you 100% certain that an innocent man was not executed?

In spite of the much disputed arson theory and the discredited jailhouse snitch?

[Major Nikon]

6. Counterpoint to the Corsicana Daily Sun story

http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Myths_and_Facts_about_the_Willingham_Case.php

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/09/david-grann-response-to-jackson.html

[avebury]

3. And have you read Scalia's comments on wrongful death

penalty convictions?

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2009/8/19/3592/67054/deathpenalty/Scalia-Constitution-Doesn-t-Recognize-Claims-of-Innocence-After-Verdict


According to Justice Scalia:

This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is "actually" innocent. Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim based on alleged "actual innocence" is constitutionally cognizable.

In other words, later proof of innocence is not sufficient grounds to to prevent the execution of a man who in fact never committed the crime that landed him on death row.

[nomorenomore08]

7. Well they gotta kill *somebody* for it, right?

[uponit7771]

8. One of the most evil rulings I've ever read....

[petronius]

9. I agree - the death penalty should be abolished in all cases... (nt)