Viewpoint: Hiding the facts (Daily Texan re: Gov Perry & the Willingham case)

[struggle4progress]

By Jillian Sheridan
The Daily Texan Editorial Board
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Published: Thursday, October 15, 2009
Updated: Thursday, October 15, 2009

... Incredibly, Perry tells reporters to “go look at the facts,” while he does everything he can to obscure them.

Last week, the Houston Chronicle reported that Perry’s office received a report criticizing the evidence in the case approximately one and a half hours before the execution. The report, authored by Dr. Gerald Hurst, accused investigators of making “major errors” and likened their investigation techniques to an “old wives tale,” according to the Houston Chronicle. At that time, Hurst, an arson expert with a doctorate in chemistry from Cambridge University, had already gained reknown for his role in successfully exonerating prisoners who had been convicted based on faulty arson science.

Perry chose not to issue a stay of execution in response to Hurst’s report and now is stopping media from finding out why. His office is telling the media that documents related to Perry’s review and his staff’s discussion of the Willingham case are not public, according to the Houston Chronicle. This stance is odd, considering that summaries of gubernatorial reviews of execution cases have been considered public records in Texas in the past ...

... the more tricks Perry uses to prevent anyone from examining the facts of the case, the more suspicious we become that there is something sinister to be discovered.

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/opinion/viewpoint-hiding-the-facts-1.1999047

[excess_3]

1. I've grown weary, of last minute appeals

if you have something to say
say it while it matters

[struggle4progress]

2. I must confess that I don't have a clue what you're trying to say

[excess_3]

3. >one and a half hours before the execution.

if you have something

speak up

.............................

this should have gone to the
Texas Pardons and Parole Commission, btw

[struggle4progress]

4. Um, the appeal WAS sent to Pardons and Paroles:

Governor Rick Perry defends execution of Corsicana man some experts say was innocent
09:34 AM CDT on Sunday, September 20, 2009
By TODD J. GILLMAN/The Dallas Morning News
[e-mail]

... The Board of Pardons and Paroles, appointed by the governor, had rejected the appeal his lawyers had filed three days earlier. Hours before the execution, the lawyers appealed directly to Perry. The appeal included a report from a widely respected fire expert, Gerald Hurst, that cast serious doubt on the arson finding. Hurst, a Cambridge-educated chemist who was chief scientist for the nation's largest explosive manufacturer, says the signs used as proof that an accelerant had been poured were almost certainly the result of “flashover” – an intense heat burst that causes an entire room to erupt in flame. The effects of flashover can mimic arson ...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/state/stories/091809dnmetperrycorsicana.19263f09c.html

[Aragorn]

5. no trouble

"I think people should die and to hell with evidence - even false evidence." Like a lot of Texas cops, politicians, etc.

What problems?

[excess_3]

6. why wait till the last minute?

(ok, a figure of speech, really one and a half hours)

please enlighten me

[bertman]

7. because the arson investigation expert was someone who was found at almost the last

minute and who had not been previously known to the defense or the man on death row.

Who knows why it came down to the last hour and a half, but does that matter if it casts uncertainty on the guilt of a man who is about to be executed? Certainly, it would be far better to postpone an execution, despite the inconvenience it would cause a few people, if it allowed the state to be absolutely certain it was not making a horrifically immoral mistake. I'm for capital punishment for some individuals but I do not EVER want to see an innocent person executed.

Would it be worth the effort to stop the execution if there were any doubt that your family member or spouse were the one who was awaiting execution?

please enlighten me.

[excess_3]

8. was the new evidence, reviewed by the T. Pardon and Parole Board? .nt

[bertman]

9. I'm not sure, excess_3. I read the "New Yorker" article describing this whole messed up

situation, but I don't remember the timing of it.

My point is that there is a nationally-recognized fire investigation SCIENTIST who has determined that it was not arson, yet they still rely on the word of a couple of local yokels who learned their fire investigation techniques OJT. When a man's life is at stake, there should always be a way to deal with exceptional circumstances. In this instance, it appears that the Texas Governor didn't want to be bothered with going the extra step to ensure that JUSTICE WAS BEING SERVED.

[struggle4progress]

10. The evidence was sent to them, but there's no evidence any of them actually examined it:

P&P members usually vote simply up or down on such appeals, by fax , without producing any deliberative record. They're all gubernatorial appointees, of course, under 508.031

Obviously, nobody official cared that Texas might be executing an innocent man