Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy:
Gov. Rick Perry's sudden decision to reconfigure the Texas Forensic Science Commission looks highly suspicious. Two days before the commission was scheduled to hear testimony from an arson expert whose scathing report gave every reason to believe Texas had wrongly convicted Cameron Todd Willingham of setting the fire that killed his three children, Perry replaced the chairman and two other members. Apparently he remembered that their terms had expired in August. The pesky hearing was canceled. It has not been rescheduled.
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Perry, who in recent days has called Willingham a "monster" who deserved to die and Beyler's report "propaganda," has had the nerve to paint himself as the victim of a politically motivated attempt to derail his reelection campaign. But he's wrong. His motives are being challenged because an innocent man may have been executed. Until Perry supports the commission's efforts and allows science to determine the truth, the likelihood remains that the real victim was Willingham.
More Willingham news after the jump.
For the backstory on the Willingham case and his wrongful execution in 2004, see this diary from 2006.
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Just in from the Innocence Project: 15 Texas exonerees and 400 Texas citizens penned an open letter to John Bradley, the newly appointed Chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission and political ally of Governor Goodhair, urging him to proceed with the Willingham investigation.
The Willingham case raises serious questions about forensics and justice in Texas. Your predecessors and colleagues on the Commission were on the right course when they decided to look seriously at that case. The expert report was only the first major step in that process. The agenda from the meeting scheduled to be held earlier this month shows that the Commission planned not just to question that expert, but to also craft their questions for the Fire Marshall's office, and consider what other perspectives they needed from Texas agencies to decide the question before the Commission. Importantly, the question before the Commission was never whether an innocent person had been executed that's not the Commission's charge. Instead, the Commission has spent more than two years looking thoughtfully and objectively at whether the forensic evidence considered in the case was problematic.
The expert report on the Willingham case confirms what every other independent expert has found for the last five years. It raises serious questions that need to be explored and answered. Unless that report gets a fair hearing and the Commission finishes its work in this case, Texans' faith in our criminal justice system will suffer a terrible blow.
The Governor has decided to abruptly change horses in the midst of a major stream, and it is now yours to navigate. Yes, you need time to get your bearings, but undue delay – much less a complete change of course – seems destined to sweep this investigation, Texans' faith in forensic evidence and our criminal justice system, maybe even jurors' willingness to convict, away with it.
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Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, in mourning the loss of Judge William Wayne Justice, also took note of Perry's "shady" conduct in the Willingham case in an entry at HuffPo:
Governor Perry will do almost anything to please the vengeful crowd in the Coliseum with their thumbs turned down. Did we mention that next year he's up for re-election? When it turned out recently that five years ago the state may have wrongfully executed a man for a crime he didn't commit, Perry pulled some particularly shady moves.
In February 2004, Cameron Todd Willingham was put to death for allegedly setting a fire that killed his three young daughters. Governor Perry has willfully ignored evidence from top arson investigators that the blaze was not homicide but an accident.
Now Perry has fired the chairman and three members of the state's Forensic Science Commission just as they were about to hear further scientific testimony that might prove Willingham's innocence. This week, Perry told reporters that the controversy is "nothing more than propaganda from the anti-death penalty people across the country."
They can be short on mercy in Texas.
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And finally, a special note to Kossacks around Austin:
Tomorrow is the tenth annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty. The march is going to begin and end at the state capitol in Austin. Todd's appellate lawyer, Walter Reaves, will be featured, as will three death row inmates exonerated after their convictions. Attendees should rally at the south steps of the capitol at 2 pm (and take pictures!).
10th-Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty from Matt Crump on Vimeo.
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Rick Perry sent Cameron Todd Willingham to die: don't let his story die, too!
Read the Beyler Report.
Contact Gov. Perry and demand he let the Willingham investigation proceed.
Join the Facebook Group: "Todd Willingham - Innocent and Executed."
Stay Informed:
Cameron Todd Willingham - Innocent and Executed: http://camerontoddwillingham.com/
Texas Moratorium Network: http://www.texasmoratorium.org/
Death Penalty News: http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/
Innocence Project: http://www.innocenceproject.org/...
-JR