A Rick Perry Stunner - Forensic Science Commission

[sonias]

The Texas Observer Contraian Blog 9/30/09
A Rick Perry Stunner

The exercise of raw power is truly stunning to behold.

Gov. Rick Perry today has replaced three members of the Forensic Science Commission, which is investigating whether Texas -- under Perry's administration -- executed an innocent man in 2004.

The Statesman and the AP are reporting that one of three deposed commissioners is chairman Sam Bassett, an Austin defense attorney.

Perry has installed as chairman John Bradley, the district attorney of Williamson County and one of the state's most notorious tough-on-crime advocates.

Bradley's first act? He has canceled Friday's schedule meeting at which the commission was supposed to discuss the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, an apparently innocent man executed in 2004. Willingham was convicted of killing his three kids by starting a 1991 house fire. His case was recently featured in the New Yorker.

More on the Todd Willingham story was posted on DU before here:
How Gov. Perry Executed a Completely Innocent Man in 2004 Investigative Report

Perry is a gutless coward and I hope the national media pick up on this attempt to cover up the execution of an innocent man.
:grr:

Sonia

[sonias]

1. Here is the AP story

AAS 9/30/09
Panel investigating arson finding cancels meeting

Panel investigating arson finding cancels meeting
By JEFF CARLTON
Associated Press Writer

DALLAS — A report concluding a faulty investigation led to a Texas man's execution won't be reviewed by a state board as planned Friday after Gov. Rick Perry abruptly removed three people from the panel, forcing the meeting's cancellation.

(snip)
Prosecutor Alan Levy, who heads the criminal division in the Tarrant County DA's office in Fort Worth, said he learned he had been fired in a Tuesday afternoon phone call. He joked he "felt like he had been purged ... from a job that doesn't even pay a dime."

Levy, who said he supports the death penalty, called Beyler's report "extremely damaging."

(snip)
Forensic scientist Aliece Watts, who works for a private laboratory in Euless, said she found out Wednesday morning she had been fired from the commission. A governor's aide called her and said Perry "was going in a different direction." The decision took her by surprise, she said.

Sonia

[sonias]

2. More details

Austin Legal blog on AAS 9/30/09
Perry names DA Bradley to lead Forensic Science Commission
(snip)

Bradley replaces Austin defense lawyer Sam Bassett as head of the commission, created by Legislature in 2005 to investigate allegations of scientific negligence or misconduct in the criminal justice system.

Bassett’s term expired Sept. 1, and the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association had urged Perry to reappoint him as the commission’s seat reserved for a defense attorney.

Austin lawyer Keith Hampton, vice president of the defense lawyers association, was dismayed at the choice of Bradley.

"This looks an awful lot like a governor who’s interfering with a science commission because the science demonstrated that we’ve executed an innocent person," Hampton said. "To pick one of the most partisan people in the state and just anointing him as presiding officer is rather breathtaking."

Sonia

[sonias]

3. Grits for Breakfast take on the switch

Grits for Breakfast blog 9/30/09
Perry scuttles Willingham arson inquiry with new Forensic Commission appointment: John Bradley

Outrageous!

It'd be hard to make this up; it seems more like caricature or some tale from days of yore out of Tammany Hall, but it's actually today's news: Governor Rick Perry has ousted the head of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which had displeased him by soliciting what turned out to be damning expert opinion regarding the Cameron Todd Willingham case (in which supposedly expert arson testimony used to convict Willingham and justify his execution was later debunked by modern science). The case has drawn national attention since the release of expert testimony solicited by the commission followed by the publication of a widely cited New Yorker article last month.

As the new chair, Perry chose (of all people) Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, who prides himself on being one of the most outspoken proponents among Texas prosecutors of a sort of neoconservative, tough on crime philosophy. The Statesman called Bradley "a tough-on-crime politically connected conservative." I've certainly heard him called worse!

(snip)
Perry is the only governor ever to appoint members to the Forensic Science Commission so this signals his displeasure, one assumes, with his prior appointees. Perry has said previously he believed Cameron Todd Willingham was guilty even if the arson science presented at his trial was wrong.

Sonia

[Aragorn]

4. posted this on FB earlier

as we have had lively discussions about this execution there. I think I said "no rug is too big" to paraphrase a more famous saying on a flag.

Now that I think about it though, no broom is big enough.

[sonias]

5. It's a matter of time before this gets more coverage

It is a very obvious ploy to derail a very serious look into the execution of an innocent man on Perry's watch. And Bradley is another one of those "Shoot them all and let god sort them out later" types.

He could care less is an innocent person has been executed. He's just a blood thirsty angry prosecutor. Just Perry's type to cover this up or at least bottle it up until the primary is over.

Sonia

[Aragorn]

8. No Friday afternoon this time...

because by Friday afternoon the hearing would have happened. Thought of that while moving furniture this evening.

I have said over and over, Texas is cronyism through and through.

[sonias]

6. Petition for Todd Willingham

You can sign the petition on CameronToddWillingham.com

Texas Should Admit Todd Willingham was Innocent

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.
===========================================

To: Texas Governor Rick Perry
Cameron Todd Willingham was executed for murder in 2004 after being convicted of starting a fire that killed his three children. However, a number of reports by respected fire experts, including one delivered to to the Texas Forensic Science Commission by Dr. Craig Beyler, concluded that the fire that killed the Willingham children was not caused by arson. We, the undersigned, urge you to accept the findings of the experts about the lack of arson and publicly acknowledge the innocence of Cameron Willingham. We should not compound the injustice of executing an innocent man by continuing to tarnish his name.

The State of Texas should halt all executions in light of the news that the investigator hired by the Texas Forensic Science Commission has concluded that the fire in the Cameron Todd Willingham case was accidental and not arson. Willingham was executed for arson/murder, when in fact there was no arson, so there was no crime. Texas executed an innocent person.

Governor Perry, you have the responsibility to take action to ensure that Texas does not execute another innocent person. As Governor of this state, you have the duty to actively pursue and repair the flaws of a broken system.

The Texas system of carrying out executions must be suspended. Governor Perry, you should appoint a balanced and independent commission to examine all aspects of the Texas death penalty system to determine what went wrong in the Willingham case and how to prevent the execution of innocent people.

From the Texas Moratorium Network.

Sonia

[onestepforward]

9. Signed.

I hope that Perry will get a lot of attention for this latest stunt. Thanks for posting the petition.

[redqueen]

10. Would you please post this in GD? (nt)

[GOPisEvil]

7. That mo-fo thinks he's freaking emporer.

Time to say "Adios" to Perry Texas. Hell, The Breck Girl would be better.

Cripes, now I need a shower...

[babylonsister]

11. The science of life and death in Texas

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6675572&mesg_id=6675572

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200910010037


The science of life and death in Texas

October 01, 2009 5:33 pm ET by Simon Maloy


It would be a shame to interrupt the media's incessant and overblown coverage of ACORN and the president's push for the Olympics to come to Chicago, but there is a story of incredible importance developing in Texas about life, death, abuse of power, and the role of science in American governance.

It all revolves around Cameron Todd Willingham, an Oklahoma man who was convicted of setting a fire that killed his three daughters, a crime for which he was put to death by the state of Texas in 2004. The New Yorker profiled Mr. Willingham last month, documenting the details of the arson investigation, as well as the investigation of Dr. Gerald Hurst, a renowned arson expert who exposed dramatic flaws in the case against Willingham, in particular the methods employed by the state's arson investigators. In late 2003, Hurst compiled a report on the Willingham case in which he denounced the state's arson investigation as being based upon "junk science," and concluded that there was no evidence of arson and that the fatal fire had been an accident. The report was sent to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and to Governor Rick Perry's office shortly before Willingham was to be executed, but there is no evidence that either the board or the governor's office even looked at it. Willingham's parole was denied, his request for a stay of execution was rejected, and he was put to death on February 17, 2004.

Since then, the Innocence Project has continued to push on behalf of Willingham, seeking to document that he was convicted based on flawed forensic analysis. Another nationally renowned fire expert, Craig Beyler, has investigated the case and was set to testify before the Texas Forensic Science Commission about his own report, which, according to the New Yorker, "concluded that investigators in the Willingham case had no scientific basis for claiming that the fire was arson, ignored evidence that contradicted their theory, had no comprehension of flashover and fire dynamics, relied on discredited folklore, and failed to eliminate potential accidental or alternative causes of the fire." Beyler was scheduled to appear before the board tomorrow.

But Gov. Perry intervened. As reported by the Dallas Morning News, Perry abruptly dismissed three members of the Forensic Science Commission on Wednesday, including the chairman, whom Perry replaced with "Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley ... one of the most conservative, hard-line prosecutors in Texas." According to the report, Bradley said he never sought the position, and the first he heard of it was when Perry offered it to him Wednesday morning. As a consequence of the firings, the hearing into the Willingham case was canceled and has not been rescheduled. The Dallas Morning News noted: "The governor has questioned Beyler's findings and argued that there is other evidence of Willingham's guilt. And Perry told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the terms of the dismissed board members were expiring that and replacing them 'was pretty standard business as usual.'"

"Standard business as usual"? It's "standard" to fire three members of a panel just days before that panel was scheduled to hear evidence that the state executed a wrongly convicted man? It's standard for a governor to torpedo a hearing that could have demonstrated he allowed an innocent man to die, even though the exculpatory evidence was available at the time of execution? And not just any evidence either - a report compiled by one of the top fire scientists in the nation which was later corroborated by the findings of another, equally renowned fire scientist. That would be quite an embarrassment for Perry, who is up for reelection next year and is facing a tough primary fight from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

This is all, at the very least, quite fishy. It's also potentially earth-shaking -- never before has it been conclusively determined that someone in this country was wrongfully put to death. If Cameron Todd Willingham's innocence can be proven, it would upend the entire rationale behind our system of capital punishment. And yet there hasn't been a whole lot of media coverage - a Nexis search of all news sources for the past two days for (cameron w/2 willingham and perry) turned up seven results.

What are we being treated to instead? In-depth and sensationalist reports about what President Obama's "safe schools czar" said to one of his students 21 years ago. That's the problem with letting Glenn Beck set the news agenda - the stories that actually matter sometimes slip through.

[white cloud]

12. Hearing on controversial Texas execution canceled

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5906EB20091001&ct=ga&cd=e5szwTHUheA&usg=AFQjCNF4jf-q-VCt8EnwcD3cHt3qi7EBRg

Reuters
By Ed Stoddard DALLAS (Reuters) - A state hearing into a scathing report about evidence used to convict a Texas man executed in 2004 has been canceled after ...

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13. Cousin of Texas governor killed by deputies

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hhaezpPWDnYDoIPPqDXYQw8JR3mQD9B2G9401&ct=ga&cd=e5szwTHUheA&usg=AFQjCNGxAkjtWmOlbYvoYK8cjIxZrVy8bA

AUSTIN, Texas — Authorities are investigating the shooting death of a cousin of Texas Gov. Rick Perry in an exchange of gunfire with sheriff's deputies. ...

[white cloud]

14. Texas governor shakes up panel probing 2004 execution

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/01/texas.execution.probe/&ct=ga&cd=e5szwTHUheA&usg=AFQjCNH4exM_-fCN_lpinQBk928ZG3Lp-A

CNN International
By Matt Smith DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry has shaken up a state commission that is probing whether a man executed in 2004 belonged on death ...

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15. Cameron Todd Willingham: Texas Governor Dismisses 3 Commission ...

By The Huffington Post News Editors
DALLAS — A report concluding a faulty investigation led to a Texas man's execution won't be reviewed by a state board as planned Friday after Gov. Rick Perry abruptly removed three people from the panel, forcing the meeting's ...

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16. Rick Perry Covers His Collusion In Faulty Execution

And this is the man that republicans are looking at to be president one day.

The cover-up for a state-sponsored murder begins:


http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/10/rick_perry_covers_his_collusion_in_faulty_execution.php

[white cloud]

17. sorry for the Hi jack

but it is hard to hold all this good news any longer.

[sonias]

19. Finally some national news on this one

I'm surprised that I haven't seen it on NY Times yet.


Sonia

[sonias]

20. Whoops - spoke too soon

Here it is:
{div class="excerpt"]NY Times 10/1/09
Texas Governor Defends Shakeup of Commission
(snip)
In what some opponents say looks like a political move and Gov. Rick Perry says was "business as usual," the governor replaced the head of the Texas Forensic Science Commission and two other members on Wednesday, just 48 hours before the commission was to hear testimony from an arson expert who believes that Mr. Willingham was convicted on faulty testimony, a conclusion that has been supported by other experts in the field.

Mr. Perry’s decision to shake up the commission and put one of his political allies in charge has, at the least, delayed the inquiry into the Willingham case. While Mr. Perry says he has no political motive for the move, his opponents have called for the commission to finish its inquiry.

"If a mistake was made in this case, we need to know it," Tom Schieffer, a Fort Worth businessman and a Democratic candidate for governor, said in a statement. "No one in public life should ever be afraid of the truth."

Mr. Perry’s opponent in the Republican primary, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, also questioned what harm the hearing could do. "I am for the death penalty," Ms. Hutchison told The Dallas Morning News, "but always with the absolute assurance that you have the ability to be sure, with the technology that we have, that a person is guilty."

[sonias]

18. Perry may have violated Federal Law

Dog Canyon blog 10/2/09
Perry's Crime
(snip)
But Perry may have also committed a crime against the U.S., and I’m not talking about his secession threats. He may have violated federal law, . This is no trivial matter. An innocent man was executed. Federal laws and guidelines are in place to keep that from happening. Perry may well have violated those laws and guidelines, for which there are criminal penalties.

(snip)
Texas receives millions of dollars in crime-fighting money from the Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grants Program of the U.S. Justice Department. To receive that money, Texas had to create the Texas Forensic Science Commission. The applying and receiving agencies, including the governor, certify that an independent, external agency exists that will investigate “negligence or misconduct substantially affecting the integrity of forensic results.”

Very interesting take by Glenn Smith. The part about the Forensic Science Commission requirements of an independent and agency are particularly interesting. I think Perry's move to replace the board certainly sends up some huge red flags and I hope DOJ comes calling.

:kick:

Sonia

[white cloud]

21. Texas Governor Doesn't Want To Determine If Man Was Wrongly Executed

Texas Governor Doesn't Want To Determine If Man Was Wrongly Executed
By Erin Geiger Smith
Gov. Perry causes a delay to a determination of whether a fire for which a man was executed was actually arson.

http://www.businessinsider.com/

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22. Texas Governor Stymieing Panel Probing Flawed Death Penalty Case ...

Texas Governor Stymieing Panel Probing Flawed Death Penalty Case ...
By Zachary Roth
Texas governor Rick Perry abruptly removed three members from a panel probing a flawed arson investigation which may have led to the execution of an innocent man. Perry then appointed a new chair who cancelled testimony from an arson ...
TPMMuckraker - http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/

[sonias]

23. Thanks - figured it was a matter of time before national blogs picked it up

Talking Points Memo is always one to cover Perry's stupidity. One new thing I learned in the TPM story is that Bradley didn't even know about the appointment to the board until the day it was announced. That sounds like a really hasty move, but of course Bradley would cover Perry's ass in a hearbeat.

Here is the direct link for that story:

Texas Governor Stymieing Panel Probing Flawed Death Penalty Case?

(snip)
What political implications? Before Willingham's execution, Perry had been asked by defense lawyers to grant a stay, based on a report by another arson expert which concluded that "there is not a single item of physical evidence in this case which supports a finding of arson." Willingham's lawyers wanted a 3-day reprieve to give the court time to review the report. But Perry, in line with a prior decision by the state's clemency board, had denied the request.

In rejiggering the scientific panel, Perry appears to have acted hastily. The new chair, John Bradley, said the first time he had learned of his appointment was the day it was announced, when he got a call from Perry's office. He said he hadn't asked for the post. Bradley also said he cancelled the Beyler hearing because it would be held too soon for him and other new panel members to sort through Beyler's report and other materials, and added that he didn't know whether it might be rescheduled.

Sonia

[Aragorn]

24. now it's CNN etc

from blogs to "M$M" in a few days.

http://rawstory.com/2009/10/governor-accused-innocent-execution/

Yes, even ACLU is on it now!

[white cloud]

25. Saw discussion in General and Politic section also.

will find a link

[sonias]

27. Here's one on DU in GD

Texas governor accused of covering up innocent man’s execution

At least this one hasn't devolved into a fuck Texas thread yet. Actually rather civil. The bad things about this story are:
#1) the death penalty
#2) Rick Perry

As it should be.

:kick:

Sonia

[sonias]

28. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt - Texas Observer Editorial

Texas Observer Editorial 10/2/09
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Bob Moser

Rick Perry has spent much of 2009 on a one-man mission to ensure that Texas retains its reputation, in the post-Dubya era, for swaggering backwardness and proudly willful ignorance. With his battle against unemployment benefits, his George Wallace impersonation at the tea parties and his batty crusade against health-care reform as a violation of "states’ rights," the governor has kept non-Texans chortling, tut-tutting and begging us to secede—while keeping rational-minded Texans cringing and wondering why the best chance to unseat him next year has to come in the form of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

We could have a long, lively and dispiriting debate about the single most ridiculous thing Perry’s done or said in his pandering to the fearful, the dimwitted and the hateful. But for my money, nothing sums up the essential character of this politician quite so neatly and damningly as his reaction to the evidence that he permitted the execution of an innocent man.

:kick:


Sonia

[white cloud]

30. A cowboy treats a woman like a lady.

By BUD KENNEDY

If Gov. Rick Perry loses the 2010 Republican primary, it won’t be because he executed too many men or made too much fun of the recession.

No, if he loses, it’ll be because he mocked a woman.

Six weeks into the campaign, the Cowboy Governor has forgotten the Code of the West:

A cowboy treats a woman like a lady.



http://www.star-telegram.com/news/columnists/bud_kennedy/story/1658968.html

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31. Investigator 'Suspicious' of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's Motives in Wrongful Execution Probe

"I was shocked and disappointed," Watts said of the removal of a prosecutor, forensic scientist and attorney from the panel. "The commission had done a tremendous amount of work, and I just would have preferred to have completed the task."


http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=80972

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33. Texas Farm Bureau switches from Perry to KBH

http://acretexas.blogspot.com/2009/10/texas-farm-bureau-switches-from-perry.html

Monday, October 5, 2009
Texas Farm Bureau switches from Perry to KBH
KBH has just received the important endorsement of the Texas Farm Bureau. In the past, the TFB has endorsed Perry, even as it has issued strong statements against the Trans-Texas Corridor and in favor of stronger protections against eminent domain. Now, the TFB sees a viable alternative to Perry in KBH and has made the switch. Excerpts from their endorsement release:

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34. Good Hairs saga Trans-Texas Corridor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Texas_Corridor

[sonias]

26. Good - it needs to keep boiling

Here is Burka on the matter:

Burka blog 10/1/09

The Cover-Up

It’s not hard to figure out why Governor Perry removed the chairman and two members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission just before its scheduled meeting: He was about to be embarrassed, and not just in Texas but nationally. The commission was going to hear a report from an arson expert that the investigation leading to the conviction and execution of Cameron Willingham for the murder of his three daughters was flawed. The case has received national attention because of the possibility that Texas executed an innocent man on Perry’s watch. The removal of the three members forced the cancellation of the meeting and prevented the report from being heard.

Perry dug a hole for himself on a recent trip to Washington by blustering his way through a meeting with reporters. From the Dallas Morning News story:
(snip)
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.”

That image of Perry mocking the investigation of his own commission, making quotation marks in the air, is such inappropriate behavior for the subject matter. Couldn’t he just say that a special commission is taking steps to review the case and he intends to see that the evidence will get a full and complete hearing? It’s the same personality trait that we saw on the videotape about the recession.

Let’s call this what it is: a cover-up.

Some very good personality traits on Bradley in Burka's post too.

Sonia

[sonias]

29. Governor grants stay of scientific evidence - AAS Editorial

AAS 10/3/09
Editorial:
Governor grants stay of scientific evidence

To claim that Gov. Rick Perry may be playing politics with the Texas Forensic Science Commission is to level a serious charge.

And, considering what's at stake here, it might understate the case. Politics would be trivial compared to what's on the line.

It is not overstating the case to say the future of the death penalty in Texas — and perhaps nationwide — could be determined by this relatively new, pretty-much-unknown state panel.

(snip)
"Yeah," Willingham said when asked if he had any final words. "The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man, convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do. From God's dust I came and to dust I will return — so the earth shall become my throne. "

The next portion of this troubling drama had been scheduled for Friday's meeting of the Texas Forensic Science Commission. But the meeting was scrapped Wednesday shortly after Perry — who has said he sees no reason to doubt the conviction — shook up the board.
(snip)

Perry recently dismissed Beyler's report with a comment about "the latter-day supposed experts" on arson. Perry said his review of the case before the execution showed "overwhelming evidence that he was in fact the murderer of his own children."

If science proves otherwise, though, more than one Texan might want to blurt out the kind of profanity-laced statement that Willingham opted for in his final moments.

Sonia

[sonias]

32. DailyKos Diary - Please Recommend the diary!

CNN on Gov. Rick Perry: "Texas-Sized Cover-Up?"

:kick:

Sonia

[kjackson227]

35. done.

[white cloud]

37. Perry news

I can't start a thread or pm yet so I will keep adding.
Don't mean to hi jack the original topic - just adding more slick rick stories as they come up. Has been fun.

[sonias]

36. Forensic panelists urged Perry against a shakeup

Postcards From the Lege blog AAS 10/6/09
Forensic panelists urged Perry against a shakeup

Sarah Kerrigan, a member of the state’s Forensic Science Commission, urged Gov. Rick Perry in a Sept. 4 letter to keep defense lawyer Sam Bassett at the helm of the commission. "I recommend his reappointment under the strongest possible terms," Kerrigan wrote.

But four weeks later — and a few days before the commission was set to formally investigate whether Texas executed a man based on a fatally flawed arson investigation — Perry’s office told Bassett that his time on the commission was up.

(snip)
Kerrigan, a forensic science professor at Sam Houston State University, did not mention the Willingham case in her letter. She wrote, "Given the delays establishing funding and filling open positions on the commission until 2007, I support Mr. Bassett’s reappointment. Doing so will ensure a measure of stability to the commission during a time of great scrutiny."

Full letter at the link above.

Ah but that was a problem for Perry. Perry did not want a measure of stability during the commission's greatest time of scrutiny.

Sonia

[white cloud]

38. Why Did Texas Gut Its Forensics Commission?

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1927855,00.html
His predecessor left office to become President but Rick Perry has now become the longest-serving and most powerful governor in the history of the state of Texas. That is very much due to his use of wide-ranging appointment powers that have allowed him to dominate state boards, commissions and courts that control many aspects of daily life in Texas. But, in the past week, a brouhaha over his refusal to reappoint three members of an obscure forensic-science commission has political observers wondering if Perry, who is facing a potentially bruising GOP primary battle, has made a political misstep.

[white cloud]

39. Perry's pulls plug on Trans Texas Corridor...but another lives on

If you believe Rick Perry, today he’s finally conceded the death of the initial Trans Texas Corridor foreign-owned toll road, land-grabbing superhighway that would have paralleled I-35, called TTC-35. However, there’s LOTS more to this story.

Perry would have us believe the announcement was because of the lack of political support, but since when does he care a flip about whether his toll road policies have political support? Look no further than his veto of eminent domain reform legislation, HB 2006, and the private toll moratorium bill, HB 1892, passed by a supermajority of the Texas Legislature in 2007 for proof.
snip



http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-17954-San-Antonio-Transportation-Policy-Examiner~y2009m10d6-Perrys-Trans-Texas-Corridor-1-DEADbut-another-lives-on

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40. TxDOT kills last vestige of Trans-Texas Corridor

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6655060.html

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41. FWST

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=180&topic_id=60355&mesg_id=60484

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42. TTC news

http://corridornews.blogspot.com/2009/10/move-comes-on-heels-of-texas-farm.html

[sonias]

43. Rebranding

Yea I would worry about the focus on killing the TTC "officially" while Perry still continues to build toll roads. The I-69 being a prime example.

Comments on I-69 plan

The I-35 proposal has been a lingering project, along with I-69 from Brownsville to Texarkana. Public comments on I-69 now are under review, TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott said.

In addition, Texas Highway 130 was part of the original Trans-Texas Corridor plan, Lippincott said.

That toll road is being developed under a public-private partnership by Zachry Construction Corp., of San Antonio, and Spain-based Cintra. It is expected to be fully open from Austin to Seguin by 2012.

Zachry and Cintra already had completed a $5 million planning contract to look at routes for TTC-35 and how it could be broken up into individual projects, Zachry spokeswoman Vicky Waddy said.

Sonia

[sonias]

44. BOR has another summary post

BOR 10/7/09
Glenn Smith: Forensics Expert Beyler Planned Public Airing of Willingham Report

Over at Dog Canyon, Glenn Smith got an interview with Craig Beyler - the man whose report on the Willingham execution went public in the New Yorker story I referenced yesterday.

From Glenn's post, titled, "Expert Beyler Planned Public Airing of Willingham Report" - which I'm going to repost at length, because it is so important:

Craig L. Beyler, the nationally recognized forensics expert whose public testimony was scuttled when Gov. Rick Perry shook up the Texas Forensic Science Commission, said today his testimony would have been matter-of-fact and based on his report that is already public.

Also, Capitol sources confirmed today that Perry’s office worked hard to kill funding for the Texas Forensic Science Commission during the last legislative session. “They knew what was coming,” said one source. "They worked the halls hard to defund the agency.” That news could be devasting to Perry’s public argument that his dismissal of his three appointees was “business as usual."

One of the links in Phillip's post is a juror who now questions her decision:

"Did anybody know about prior to his execution? Now I will have to live with this for the rest of my life. Maybe this man was innocent."

- Dorinda Brofofsky, one of the jurors of the Willingham case

Sonia

[white cloud]

45. more arrogance

That inquiry found that the key evidence had no basis in modern fire science but then, last Wednesday, Slick Rick announced his decision to remove the head of the commission and two of its investigators. The incoming chairman subsequently cancelled the meeting scheduled to discuss the FSC report.

Perry denied that the changes were intended to quash the investigation, saying: "Those individuals' terms were up, so we're replacing them."

http://standdown.typepad.com/weblog/2009/10/editorials-condemn-perry-move.html

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46. Why did Perry take $888,000 FROM CJD and dole it out then?

Why did Perry take $888,000 and dole it out then?
"Gov. Rick Perry has awarded more than $880,000"


From Perry’s Homepage:
http://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/11481/
Gov. Perry Awards $880,000 in Forensic Science Improvement Grants
October 24, 2008
AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry has awarded more than $880,000 in grants to eight forensic crime labs throughout the state. These grants are awarded under the federal Paul Coverdell Forensic Sciences Grant Improvement Program and are distributed by the Governor’s Criminal Justice Division (CJD).

“Forensic science is a growing field that is necessary to ensure the correct and efficient implementation of justice in criminal cases,” Gov. Perry said. “These grants will help provide essential technological upgrades and support forensic science programs across the state.”

The Coverdell program provides funds to crime laboratories for technology upgrades and overtime for criminalists to reduce the backlog of non-DNA evidence.

Each year, CJD awards more than $113 million in grants for a variety of juvenile justice, criminal justice, and victim services programs.
_______________________________________________

From the Library od Congress:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:SN03045:@@@L&summ2=m&
SUMMARY AS OF:
10/26/2000--Passed Senate amended. (There is 1 other summary)
Paul Coverdell National Forensic Sciences Improvement Act of 2000 - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize the use of drug control and system improvement (Byrne) grants to improve the quality, timeliness, and credibility of forensic science services for criminal justice purposes.

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47. Bexar coroner named to embattled forensics commission

Allan Turner - Houston Chronicle HOUSTON — Gov. Rick Perry on Friday appointed two new members — one of them is a San Antonian — to the Texas Forensic Science Commission, completing a reconfiguration that began 10 days ago with the controversial replacement of the committee's chairman.

Named to the nine-member panel were Randall Frost, head of the Bexar County medical examiner's office, and Lance Evans, a Fort Worth criminal defense lawyer.
>>>>>

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/state/Perry_appoints_San_Antonian_to_embattled_forensics_commission.html

[sonias]

48. Perry Tried to Meddle in Willingham Inquiry

Texas Observer The Contraian blog 10/12/09
Perry Tried to Meddle in Willingham Inquiry

So maybe it wasn't "business as usual" after all.

Critics have been hounding Gov. Rick Perry for weeks about the his decision to fire three members of the Forensic Science Commission before they could finish investigating the case of an apparently innocent man executed in 2004. The governor's office has said the replacements were bureaucratic business as usual.

Well, this morning The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the governor's office pressured the Forensic Science Commission to scale back (or end) its investigation into the case of Cameron Todd Willingham. (Perry allowed Willingham's execution despite receiving last-minute mitigating evidence.)

The Chicago Tribune 10/12/09
Cameron Todd Willingham: Former head of Texas forensics panel probing 1991 fire says he felt pressured by Gov. Perry aides

Just months before the controversial removal of three members of a state commission investigating the forensics that led to a Texas man's 2004 execution, top aides to Gov. Rick Perry tried to pressure the chairman of the panel over the direction of the inquiry, the chairman has told the Tribune.

Samuel Bassett, whom Perry replaced on the Texas Forensic Science Commission two weeks ago, said he twice was called to meetings with Perry's top attorneys. At one of those meetings, Bassett said he was told they were unhappy with the course of the commission's investigation.

"I was surprised that they were involving themselves in the commission's decision-making," Bassett said. "I did feel some pressure from them, yes. There's no question about that."

Sonia

[sonias]

49. Editorial: Perry's actions increasingly suspect in Willingham case (DMN)

DMN 10/12/09
Editorial: Perry's actions increasingly suspect in Willingham case

(snip)
Fortunately, he might not have any more dirty tricks up his sleeve. The governor appoints only four of the commission's nine members, so Perry has run out of people to replace.

The question now is whether he will allow the commission to proceed with its work on the Willingham case. If the commission – and Perry – are to have credibility on this issue, the governor must send the clear message that the inquiry should move forward apace.

Then the governor must back off.

No more closed-door meetings with Perry aides and commission members. No more not-so-subtle suggestions about the direction of the investigation. No more sarcastic remarks from Perry about "supposed experts."

Perry has overstepped in his attempts to delay or quash this important inquiry. Unless he adopts a hands-off approach, his motives and the commission's work will be suspect.

Sonia

[blogslut]

50. So, am I too hopeful

Governor Goodhair might not make it to the primary?

[sonias]

51. Still too early to tell

He's definitely in "damage control" mode over this whole issue. And it keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Burnt Orange Report with the piece CNN did on the cover up.
CNN Airs Ten-Minute Feature on Rick Perry Investigation Cover-Up

Sonia

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52. Fort Worth Star Telegram

Gov. Rick Perry's changes at forensic commission raise eyebrows
Fort Worth Star Telegram
Rick Perry's hatchet has fallen once again on what was a little-known state commission created to ensure the credibility of forensic science used in ...


http://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=http://www.star-telegram.com/242/story/1683216.html&hl=en

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53. Texans' secession talk brings national reaction

When Rick Perry raised the possibility of secession, it sparked a firestorm inside Texas – some embraced ...



http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/topstories/stories/101409dntexsecession.3f3cb13.html

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54. Texas Republican Smackdown - Page 1 - The Daily Beast

By Benjamin Sarlin
Gov. Rick Perry is under fire over a suspicious execution—and his secessionist talk this spring. Can his more moderate GOP rival take him down? The national GOP is watching.
The Daily Beast - Blogs and Stories - http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/?cid=rss:bs

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55. With Perrys help we got this one flaming

Keep it up.

[sonias]

56. Todd Willingham's Defense Lawyer Embarrasses Texas Justice System on National TV; Juror Has Doubts H

Daily Kos Diary by Scott Cobb 10/15/09
Todd Willingham's Defense Lawyer Embarrasses Texas Justice System on National TV; Juror Has Doubts
by Scott Cobb
Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 09:14:28 PM PDT

Tonight on CNN AC360, Todd Willingham's trial lawyer David Martin, the person who was supposed to have vigorously defended his client, made an appearance on national TV arguing for his former client's guilt. Martin, appearing in a cowboy hat, drawled that the report submitted to the Texas Forensic Science Commission by Dr Craig Beyler was one of the "least objective reports" he has ever read. "This is supposed to be a scientific report?", said Martin.

Steve Mills of the Chicago Tribune, then said that the arson investigation methods used in 1991 were not based on science. "That is absurd" said Martin.

You have to see the shocking video of Martin's appearance. This shows why the Texas death penalty system can allow innocent people to be executed. Willingham did not have a chance with Martin as his lawyer. Anderson Cooper at one point said, "you sound like a sheriff", "you don't sound like a defense lawyer".

Martin said, "this is ridiculous. This is absurd. The defense lawyer doesn't have to believe the client. This is an absurdity."

Video from CNN Anderson Cooper included in the DK story.

Sonia

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57. Fire Scientist Beyler Refutes Governor Perry

DALLAS (KERA) - Texas Governor Rick Perry says those raising questions over his decision to dissolve a forensics commission looking into a deadly 1991 fire are biased and politically driven. But the expert he's attacking says the Governor has it wrong.


http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kera/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1566887/North.Texas/Fire.Scientist.Beyler.Refutes.Governor.Perry

[sonias]

58. Two new great posts fromThe Contrarian blog too

Texas Observer - The Contrarian blog 10/16/09
Fact Check: The Willingham Case

Two media reports have surfaced in the past few days asserting that perhaps Cameron Todd Willingham was guilty after all.

Both stories contain some factual distortions.

(Here's background on Willingham -- a likely innocent man executed in 2004 for allegedly starting a house fire that killed his three children.)

The local Fox affiliate in Fort Worth ran a five-minute segment on the Willingham case earlier this week. Gov. Rick Perry's folks have been pushing this video as an "objective" media report. (Hat tip to Quorum Report.)

Fox News covering for Perry imagine that?

Texas Observer - The Contrarian blog 10/16/09
What Perry Knew About Willingham
Just hours before Cameron Todd Willingham was put to death for a crime he likely didn't commit, Gov. Rick Perry's office received clear mitigating evidence that showed the forensics in Willingham's case were flawed.

What did Perry's office receive?

We know -- from Lise Olsen's story in Sunday's Houston Chronicle -- that Willingham's lawyer sent a five-page fax to Perry's office on Feb. 17, 2004, just 88 minutes before the scheduled execution.

In that five-page fax was a report from Dr. Gerald Hurst, a nationally renowned fire expert who's helped exonerate dozens of people. In his report, Hurst said the forensic evidence against Willingham -- a man about to be executed -- was outdated and incorrect. Hurst concludes that the 1991 fire that killed Willingham's three kids was accidental.

Sonia

[sonias]

59. Willingham juror no longer sure of his guilt in Texas case (CNN)

CNN 10/16/09
Willingham juror no longer sure of his guilt in Texas case

(snip)
The controversy has led juror Dorenda Brokofsky to think twice about the decision she made in a jury room in 1992.

"I don't sleep at night because of a lot of this," Brokofsky said. "I have gone back and forth in my mind trying to think of anything that we missed. I don't like the fact that years later someone is saying maybe we made a mistake, that the facts aren't what they could've been."

Brokofsky spoke with CNN by phone from her Midwest home. She has long since moved away from tiny Corsicana, Texas, where the fire took place.

"I do have doubts now," she said. "I mean, we can only go with what we knew at the time, but I don't like the fact now that maybe this man was executed by our word because of evidence that is not true. It may not be true now. And I don't like the fact that I may have to face my God and explain what I did."

"When you're sitting there with all those facts, there was nothing else we could see," she said. "Now I don't know. I can't tell you he's innocent, I can't say 100 percent he's guilty."

Sonia

[sonias]

60. Another good blog post by Scott Cobb on DK

Daily Kos 10/17/09
Lawyers Speaking Out in Response to Todd Willingham's "Utterly Disgraceful" Trial Attorney

(snip)
Mark Bennett (trial attorney)
My position is that a) all facts the lawyer learns in the course of representation is privileged; and b) this privilege survives the end of representation and the client’s death. So, for example, the fact that the defense team did its own pseudoscientific experiment would be privileged and not something that the ex-lawyer would be free to reveal (without the client’s permission).

Scott has some others too. So it seems that David Martin, the appointed attorney for Todd Willingham is breaking his attorney/client privledge and really shouldn't be getting involved in TV interviews pushing Willingham's guilt after the fact.

Sonia

[sonias]

61. What Stacy Said (Willingham's wife)

New Yorker blog David Grann 10/16/09
October 16, 2009
David Grann: What Stacy Said

The crux of the case against Cameron Todd Willingham—which led him to be executed for committing arson and causing the death of his three daughters—was forensic evidence that has since been called into question by some of the nation’s leading fire scientists, as I explained in the magazine last month. Yesterday, the city of Corsicana, Texas, where the fire took place, defended its prosecution of Willingham by releasing an affidavit that was given by Willingham’s former brother-in-law Ronnie Kuykendall, just before Willingham’s execution. In the affidavit, Kuykendall says that Willingham’s former wife, Stacy, had told Kuykendall and other family members that Willingham had confessed to her when she visited him several weeks before his execution. The affidavit had originally been included in a legal brief, filed by the prosecution on February 16th, the day before Willingham’s execution, in response to a new report, by the arson investigator Dr. Gerald Hurst, concluding that there was no scientific basis to the claim that Willingham had set the fire.

The veracity of Kuykendall’s affidavit came into question five years ago. In December, 2004, ten months after Willingham’s execution, the Chicago Tribune reporters Steve Mills and Maurice Possley tracked down Stacy and asked her if Willingham had, in fact, confessed to her. She said, firmly, that Willingham had never done so.

Here is exactly what the reporters revealed, starting with the affidavit:

The response from local prosecutors included a two-paragraph affidavit from Ronnie Kuykendall, the brother of Willingham’s former wife. He said that Stacy, who had divorced Willingham while he was on Death Row, had recently visited him, then gathered the family to say that he had confessed.

But she said in an interview that was untrue. At the time of the trial, she said she had believed in her husband’s innocence, but over the years, after studying the evidence and the trial testimony, she became convinced he was guilty. In their final meeting, however, he did not confess, she told the Tribune.

Sonia

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62. Perry's fingerprints all over state

AUSTIN — So, this is what you get with a governor who's appointed everyone to everything after nearly nine years in office: You name it, Gov. Rick Perry has a hand in it.

You get landmarks, such as his appointment of Eva Guzman as the first Latina to serve on the Texas Supreme Court.

And you get landmines, such as his nationally controversial replacement of Forensic Science Commission appointees looking into whether arson evidence supported the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham in his children's deaths.>>

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6674054.html

[sonias]

63. Perry trying to put out the fire

Tips to http://brainsandeggs.blogspot.com/2009/10/sunday-funnies_18.html">Brains and Eggs blog for the Sunday toon

Sonia

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64. Ex-governor White urges rethink of death penalty

Source: AP


A former Texas governor says it's time for the state to rethink the death penalty.

Mark White was involved with 20 executions as a state attorney general and governor. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News, the veteran Democrat says the death penalty no longer deters murder.

He says the long delays between convictions and executions means there is no swift justice. He also says he's increasingly concerned that the law isn't administered fairly and that the risk of putting innocent people to death is too great.


Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stori...



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4109828

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65. Ex-governor questions Texas death penalty

| www.beaumontenterprise ...
A former Texas governor says it's time for the state to rethink the death penalty.
Southeast Texas News - http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/

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66. Lawyers, Guns and Money: More On The Texas Death Panel

By Scott Lemieux
A couple news items on Texas's murder of Cameron Todd Willingham. First, Chris Orr points us to this video of Willingham's prosecutor, John Jackson, reiterating his theory that although we no longer have any idea if a crime was ...
Lawyers, Guns and Money - http://lefarkins.blogspot.com/

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67. William McKenzie: Rick Perry's perplexing ways

Dallas Morning News
In recent weeks, Perry has ousted his appointed chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission only days before the commission was to hear testimony ...
See all stories on this topic

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68. Perry Keeps Willingham Memo a Secret - The StandDown Texas Project

Perry Keeps Willingham Memo a Secret - The StandDown Texas Project
By Steve Hall
Perry appointees oversee and administer agencies on everything from transportation to prisons, public safety to health care for the poor, public schools to state universities to environmental regulation. “He stands astride Texas state ...
The StandDown Texas Project - http://standdown.typepad.com/weblog/

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69. What is Rick Perry afraid of?

What is Rick Perry afraid of?
6:13 PM Fri, Oct 23, 2009 | Permalink
Letter to the Editor E-mail | Suggest a blog topic


Gov. Rick Perry's torpedoing of the Texas Forensic Science Commission raises questions about his character. Why is he afraid to have an independent review of the Todd Willingham case?

Although he had received a last-minute challenge to the arson evidence, he might be forgiven if he was confused or not persuaded by technical information outside his area of expertise. But now, after more expert challenges to the arson evidence, the governor's unwillingness to let the independent investigation proceed poses troubling questions about his priorities.

His arguments that Willingham was guilty anyway and that his critics are motivated by politics or by opposition to the death penalty ignore the simple question: Was the arson investigation based on sound science?

Most Texans support the death penalty, but they need to know that executions are based on sound evidence and fair processes. Otherwise executions are acts of barbarism. Does the governor not understand this?
SNIP>>>>>>>

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/10/what-is-rick-pe-1.html

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70. Ex-governor’s death penalty skepticism a welcome step

Former Texas Gov. Mark White did last week what he could never have done during his two campaigns for state attorney general and three bids for the governor’s office.

He said it is time for Texas to rethink the use of capital punishment and replace the death penalty with life in prison.

You see, no one can run a successful statewide campaign in Texas — the death penalty capital of the country — without being for capital punishment. Just ask any of the candidates already running for governor in next year’s election. They wouldn’t dare come out against the ultimate legal penalty.
>>>>>>>

http://www.star-telegram.com/242/story/1708463.html