Doubts Increase About Guilt of Executed Man
Controversy Over the 2004 Execution of Cameron Todd Willingham
Oct 18, 2009
Unemployed auto mechanic Cameron Todd Willingham was home with his three children, two-year-old Ashley, and 1-year-old twins Karmon and Kameron on the morning of December 23, 1991. He was sleeping when around 11 a.m. he was awoken by Amber’s cries. According to Willingham’s account the house was engulfed by flames when he got up and after unsuccessful attempts to rescue the children, he managed to make it out of the burning home. Willingham’s wife, Stacy, had already left the house for the day.
Fire Determined to be Arson
Two arson investigators in Corsicana Texas, a small city located about 40 miles from Waco quickly determined that the fire was arson. They indicated that an accelerant was used at various places throughout the house including the doorway, under the children’s beds and in the hallway. It was believed that accelerant was put in the hallway to impede entry by firefighters. In a matter of days, Cameron Todd Willingham was charged with three counts of capital murder. He was later given an offer of life imprisonment in exchange pleading guilty but Willingham refused, insisting that he was innocent and the fire had started accidentally while he was asleep.
Willingham’s Trial and Execution
At his 1992 trial the forensic evidence that was called by the prosecution only proved conclusively that the fire in the Willingham home was deliberately set. The defense claimed they could not find an expert to contradict the finding that the fire was arson. A jailhouse informant testified that he had a brief conversation with Willingham who had told him that he murdered his children to cover up evidence of abuse. The only witness that the defense called was a babysitter who testified that Willingham got along well with the children. On August 20, 1992 the jury deliberated for about an hour before coming back with guilty verdicts. At the sentencing hearing on the following day, an expert for the state testified that Willingham was a sociopath who had no chance to be rehabilitated. The sentencing phase of the trial was completed in one day and Cameron Todd Willingham was sentenced to death.
All of Willingham’s subsequent appeals failed. On February 17, 2004, at the age of 36, he was put to death by lethal injection. Right up to the end, Willingham denied that he had murdered his children.
Doubts About Willingham’s Guilt
Over the years the evidence has not withstood scrutiny. The state of Texas’ expert who found him to be a sociopath was later fired for finding all prisoners that he interviewed to be sociopaths and incapable of rehabilitation. The jailhouse informant recanted his testimony and then recanted his recantation. At the present time, much less reliance is put on the testimony of jailhouse snitches than was the case in the early 1990s. The autopsies of the children, who died from smoke inhalation revealed no signs of abuse. But the strongest evidence about Willingham’s possible innocence was found in forensic reports that were prepared after the trial.
There have been at least three reports that have been done by fire scientists that conclude that the fire in the Willingham home was accidental. The reports criticize the original arson investigators for relying on hunches rather than real science. The two arson investigators were also criticized for jumping to a quick conclusion and not examining the electrical outlets and the wiring in the home for possible accidental causes of the fire. The later reports concluded that the burn patterns and damage that occurred to the house was consistent with a fire that had not been deliberately set. The accelerant that the initial investigators found was determined to have been in the house but not deliberately poured in certain areas and intentionally ignited.
One such report was forwarded to the office of the Governor of Texas about one and one-half hours before Willingham’s execution. It is not certain if the governor ever saw it.
The recent revelations that have come to light have led Dorenda Brokofsky, a juror at the original trial, to have doubts about Willingham's guilt. Brokofsky told CNN that she doesn't sleep at night worrying if she and the other jurors made a mistake.
Texas Adamant Right Man Executed
Craig Beyler, a fire expert, was due to deliver a report to the Texas Forensic Science Commission recently. Just two days before the report was due to be handed over, Texas Governor Rick Perry fired three members of the commission, including the chairman and replaced them. The new chairman delayed receiving Beyler’s report which concludes that the fire in the Willingham home was not deliberately set. Perry, who faces re-election next year, was put on the defensive. He labeled Beyler’s report as nothing more than propaganda by death penalty opponents and described Willingham as a “monster” and a “bad man”. Perry also accused the media of being detracted by a “sideshow”. But as the Houston Chronicle pointed out the issue is not whether Cameron Todd Willingham, who had beaten his wife when she was pregnant, was a bad man or not; it was whether he murdered his three young children.
With the media attention focused on Beyler’s report and Governor Rick Perry the controversy is continuing. A website has been set up to petition the governor. Opponents of the death penalty are hoping that for the first time, the state of Texas will acknowledge that they executed an innocent man.
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