Thanks to Willingham inquiry, old arson cases getting a new look

The state fire marshal's office has agreed to review prior arson investigations to determine if criminal convictions were obtained using bad science or now-debunked assumptions, it was announced Friday.

The review was a key concession sought by the Texas Forensic Science Commission as part of its investigation into the science used to convict, and ultimately execute, Cameron Todd Willingham for the 1991 fire that killed his three young daughters.

Last April, the science commission determined that fire investigators, including a deputy fire marshal, relied on scientifically invalid techniques to rule that Willingham intentionally set fire to his Corsicana home.

Uncomfortable that a poor understanding of fire science could have influenced other investigations, the commission's Willingham report also urged Fire Marshal Paul Maldonado to review his agency's files.

Maldonado agreed to the review earlier this week, Forensic Science Commission Chairman Nizam Peerwani announced Friday.

"I thought that was a wonderful thing," Peerwani said. "There is no legal requirement for retroactive review, no mandate under the law, but there is some ethical and moral duty to do that."


At Friday's meeting of the science commission in Austin, members expected to sign off on a draft report closing the Willingham investigation with two questions unanswered:

• Were the Willingham investigators negligent in their analysis of the fire?

• Was the fire marshal's office negligent for failing to inform the justice system that advances in fire science could call into question prior arson findings?

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Source: statesman.com, September 10, 2011