Todd Willingham: Panel cites 'flawed science' in arson case, but inquiry finds no negligence in probe that led to man's execution

Members of the state commission investigating a controversial Corsicana arson case in which 3 children died — and for which their father was executed — acknowledged on Friday that state and local arson investigators used "flawed science" in determining the blaze had been deliberately set. But the Texas Forensic Science Commission panel heading the inquiry also found insufficient evidence to prove that state Deputy Fire Marshal Manuel Vasquez and Corsicana Assistant Fire Chief Douglas Fogg were negligent or guilty of misconduct in their arson work.

The investigators, they said, likely used standards accepted in Texas at the time of the fire, which erupted at the home of Cameron Todd Willingham in December 1991. Willingham went to his execution in 2004 proclaiming his innocence in the deaths of his 1-year-old twins and 2-year-old step daughter.

The tentative findings were announced at the commission's quarterly meeting in Houston.

Commissioners authorized the four-member committee to write a draft report reflecting their findings to be acted on later this summer. The panel, headed by commission Chairman John Bradley, also will solicit more information regarding the state of investigation standards in 1991. It will accept written public comments until Aug. 12.

Friday's action was the latest chapter in the contentious review of the arson investigators' work spurred by a complaint filed by the New York-based Innocence Project. The commission is not tasked with determining whether Texas might have executed an innocent man, but whether the arson investigators followed sound scientific principles.

Other reviews critical

At least 3 expert reviews, including a commission-financed study by Baltimore fire expert Craig Beyler, have been critical of the arson investigations. Burn patterns, multiple points of origin and other phenomenon investigators found at the scene wrongly were interpreted as signs the fire deliberately was set, the experts concluded.

Beyler, who wrote that investigators observed neither the standards of the National Fire Prevention Association, adopted shortly after the blaze, nor standards applicable at the time of the fire, was scheduled to appear before commissioners last September.

Days before the meeting, however, Gov. Rick Perry replaced the commission chairman with Bradley, district attorney in Williamson County. The session at which Beyler was scheduled to speak was canceled, and the fire expert never appeared before the body.

Friday's action spurred a heated exchange between Bradley and Innocence Project co-founder Barry Scheck, who bolted from his seat to protest. Bradley repeatedly refused to yield the floor.

Family optimistic

Scheck's organization argues that the state fire marshal's office should have been aware of updated arson investigation standards and - in any event - should have advised prosecutors and the court of them when they were adopted.

The new standards went into effect in early 1992.

"It's alarming that they've missed the point of our allegations," Innocence Project policy director Stephen Saloom said. "The state fire marshal's office had a continuing duty to inform prosecutors, the court, pardons and paroles or the governor of the unreliability of the old evidence."

While national fire experts may have known in late 1991 that new standards were in the works, investigation committee members said, it's possible rank-and-file investigators did not.

Willingham's mother, Eugenia Willingham, and his cousin, Patricia Cox, who were present for Friday's session, viewed the commission's action as a positive development.

"We're cautiously optimistic," Cox said. "We're Todd's voice after death. We're going to exonerate him. We're not going away."

Eugenia Willingham said her son would have been pleased. "His wish was that we clear his name," she said. "He was innocent and prosecuted for something he didn't do. ... I hope that somewhere or other he saw what happened today."

Source: Houston Chronicle, July 24, 2010 - Photo : Willingham's house after the fire

Texas panel finds flaws but no negligence in arson inquiry that led to execution

A commission reviewing a disputed arson finding that led to a Corsicana man's 2004 execution for the deaths of his three young children said in a preliminary report Friday that the fire investigators used flawed science but didn't commit negligence or misconduct.

Texas Forensic Science Commission members said they believed there was insufficient evidence to establish whether investigators botched their 1991 investigation of the fire that killed Cameron Todd Willingham's 3 daughters.

Investigators with the State Fire Marshal's Office had ruled that the blaze was an arson started by an accelerant. Willingham, 36, was later convicted of capital murder for setting the blaze.

Since Willingham's execution, persistent questions have been raised by arson experts and national media reports about the forensic evidence used in the prosecution.

In a report prepared last year for the commission, fire expert Craig Beyler said the original investigation was so seriously flawed that the finding of arson couldn't be supported. He said the investigation didn't adhere to fire investigation standards in place at the time or to current standards.

The controversy increased in September when Gov. Rick Perry replaced 3 members of the forensic commission, including its chairman, 2 days before it was to review Beyler's report.

Perry named conservative ally John Bradley to lead the commission, raising concerns that the inquiry would be politically influenced. If the evidence were to prove Willingham did not kill his children, it would be the first known wrongful execution in Texas.

Bradley canceled the meeting about Beyler's report and didn't assign the panel of four commission members to review the case until April.

Bradley, who leads the panel that he appointed to go over Willingham's case, said the panel concluded that arson experts in the case did not commit misconduct or negligence.

Bradley and panel member Sarah Kerrigan, a forensic toxicologist and director of a crime lab at Sam Houston State University, acknowledged that the fire investigators used flawed science in the Willingham case. But they said that didn't translate into professional negligence because investigators were relying on the techniques and information available at the time.

Timing of standards

New fire investigation standards were developed in 1992, the year Willingham was convicted, but weren't adopted nationally for several years after that, said Bradley, who also is the Williamson County district attorney.

The panel will prepare its final report and present it for a vote at a meeting sometime before mid-October.

Willingham, an unemployed mechanic from Corsicana, 55 miles southeast of Dallas, did not testify at his trial. But he always contended – even in the moments before his execution – that he was innocent. He suggested the Dec. 23, 1991, blaze could have been started accidentally.

Prosecutors argued that Willingham wanted to get rid of his children, 2-year-old Amber and 1-year-old twins Karmon and Kameron.

Patricia Cox, Willingham's cousin, told commission members that she appreciated the group's acknowledgment that the forensic evidence used to convict her loved one was flawed.

"Even though there may not have been any malice or intent by fire investigators about not being informed on current standards, that doesn't excuse the fact that, based on this misinformation, Cameron Todd Willingham was executed, and that can't be corrected," said a tearful Cox.

Willingham's stepmother, Eugenia Willingham, was too upset to speak during the meeting's public comment section. But during a break, she said she couldn't believe the panel's conclusion and vowed to continue fighting for her stepson's exoneration.

Both Cox and Eugenia Willingham came from their hometown of Ardmore, Okla., to attend the meeting. 2 other women at the meeting held signs with photographs of Willingham that read: "No More Cover Up! Todd: Innocent and Executed!" and "Put Todd Willingham on the Agenda."

Innocence Project

Barry Scheck, co-director of the New York-based Innocence Project, whose request prompted the commission to review Willingham's case, said his group wasn't asking if the individual investigators were negligent.

Instead, Scheck said, the group wants to know whether the fire marshal's office committed misconduct by not notifying prosecutors that Willingham had been convicted based on flawed investigative standards.

As Scheck spoke during the public comment portion, he got into a heated argument with Bradley, who told Scheck: "You enjoy the cameras. You enjoy the drama."

Willingham's family and the Innocence Project, a legal group that specializes in overturning wrongful convictions, have been highly critical of delays in the commission's investigation.

The commission first agreed to review Willingham's case and that of another man in 2006 after the Innocence Project said experts it commissioned had concluded that the fires in both cases were not arson.

Source: Dallas Morning News, July 24, 2010

Related articles:

"If arson science in Willingham case was 'flawed,' what about other, similar cases?", Grits For Breakfast, July 24, 2010

"Whitewash Coming?", Gamso for the Defense, July 23, 2010

"Rick Perry's Puppet John Bradley Tells CNN "New York Lawyers" are Politicizing Forensic Science Commission's Work", Texas Death Penalty Blog, July 24, 2010