An innocent man?

This August, 2009 editorial, The troubling case of Cameron Todd Willingham, in the Dallas Morning News references a report conducted by Craig Beyler, of Hughes Associates Inc., for the Texas Forensic Science Commission regarding cases against two men convicted of arson resulting murder, and which determined that, “arson investigators helped assemble cases against both men with a shaky understanding of scientific fact, no clear methodology and a disregard of established protocols.”

In one case, the conviction was overturned on an unrelated issue, and the individual eventually was set free. In the other case, however, the individual, Cameron Todd Willingham, was convicted and executed in Huntsville in 2004, based at least partially on very questionable findings of arson investigators.

The editorial goes on to say that it is auspicious that the relatively new Texas Forensic Science Commission looked in to these two questionable cases in some of its first inquiries; and then posits that no amount of flawed forensics is acceptable when sending someone to death row.

Since this editorial was published, Texas Governor Rick Perry has reshuffled the Forensic Science Commission, and effectively delayed its findings in these cases.

Additional reporting also indicated forensic reports commissioned by other organizations have been universally critical of the findings and testimony of the original fire investigators in the Willingham case, and also of the Perry decision to shake up the commission.

These developments in the Willingham case have garnered the attention of both the Texas and national media as evidenced by this article from November 9, on CNN.com, and this article from September 7, in the New Yorker. All these articles opine that Texas may have executed an innocent man in Cameron Todd Willingham.

I became aware of the issues around the Willingham case a couple of months ago, and started researching the details out of curiosity. I wondered, "Had Texas really executed a demonstratively innocent guy?"

The facts were that, in 1991, out-of-work 22 year-old Cameron Todd Willingham was a convicted burglar and thief. There were also substantiated accusations that he had a temper and would beat his wife, Stacy, even when she was pregnant. Some claimed that he had previously tortured animals and demonstrated other sociopathic tendencies. Others, like his parole officer and a judge he had appeared before, said he was polite and caring.

On, December 23, Willingham claimed that while Stacy was away shopping, his 2 year-old daughter, Amber, awakened him and he realized the house was on fire. He said told the 2 year-old to “get out of the house” while he attempted to rescue his 1 year-old twins from their bedroom. He claimed he could not find them due to smoke, and exited the house through the front door with superficial burns. He watched the house burn from the front yard and the girls died in the fire. Some neighbors and EMS said he appeared hysterical and made attempts to re-enter the house for the children.

Subsequently, investigators described the fire as arson due to “multiple fires being set”, and the use of “accelerants”. Willingham was charged and convicted of murdering his children and eventually executed for it.

At the trial, the prosecution used "expert" testimony describing the fire as arson, along with statements made by Willingham with significantly varying accounts of the events and his actions during the fire. He had given varying accounts of which parts of the house were on fire at different times, sometimes changing his story to an earlier version, and eventually admitted that he hadn’t even gone to the twin’s bedroom for them before exiting himself. In addition, there was testimony by some witnesses that described Willingham’s behavior as odd during the fire. They said the attempts to re-enter the house were half-hearted, that his hysterical demeanor seemed staged, and that they found it odd he would take time to move a vehicle away from the house while his daughters burned inside.

After hearing all the evidence, the Corsicana jury convicted him of murder.

Currently, many in the anti-death penalty community and in the media have championed the idea that Cameron Todd Willingham was railroaded into the death chamber. Much has been made of the admittedly faulty evidence of arson presented at trial. Maybe the Forensic Science Commission can use that faulty evidence as a catalyst to improve expert testimony in Texas trials. I certainly hope so. But before we all jump on the bandwagon and start boo-hooing the state sponsored demise of Cameron Todd Willingham, I would say let’s consider...arson evidence aside...whether the dude was actually guilty of the heinous crime he was convicted for.

The man was undeniably a burglar and a thief. Not the most trustworthy kind of guy. He was also apparently a domestic abuser. He beat on his wife, even when she was pregnant; and whether he had beaten his kids or not, he would have eventually gotten around to it. He was such a bad husband that Stacy had told him she and the kids were going to leave him after the first of the year, 1992.

There were also those accusations of sociopathic behavior such as previously abusing animals. The glowing characterizations of his parole officer and former judge could be described as a sociopath charming and manipulating those in authority.

But then there are those pesky reports by contemporary arson experts that say there’s no way arson could be proved by the forensic evidence gathered; well, what’s not being highlighted is that the contemporary reports do not rule out arson, either. There are just so many ways to set something on fire. Not all involve accelerants or methods that leave trace evidence…

And lastly, there's something that occurred long after the trial when Willingham’s ex-wife, Stacy, went to visit him on death row…. According to her, Willingham told her that he had felt that if Stacy, “didn’t have my girls I couldn’t leave him and that I could never have Amber or the twins with anyone else but him”.

So, should Willingham have been given a new trial based on something like “mistake of fact” with the arson evidence? Possibly... hell, probably! I’m sure the flawed testimony of the original fire investigators had a major impact on the jury’s verdict.

Like the above referenced editorial says, all testimony at any trial should be as accurate as humanly possible. If it isn’t, of course that’s a huge problem.

But, regarding the question of whether Cameron Todd Willingham was actually a sociopath who murdered his children, I think we can defer to the person who knew him best, his ex-wife, and her opinion. Yes, he did.

You can read Stacy’s statement here.