Bradley to Governor - Mission on target,
As expected, the Texas Forensic Science Commission meeting yesterday has been extensively. I believe the initial strategy was to delay, and hope interest in Willingham would die down. Thanks to the efforts of numerous groups, that has not happened. Apparently the governor's office finally realized they were going to have do something - in other words, on to plan B.
I have always had serious concerns about the Forensic Commission taking up the Willingham case. I never for a minute thought the state would admit they executed an innocent person - no matter how obvious it is. Although I knew no one could attack the scientists who have critiqued the investigation, that has never stopped the State before. They are the State, and for many it's enough to say we don't believe it. I always thought the most logical approach was to admit there were problems, but claim they did the best they could at the time. In fact, that is exactly what they did.
For awhile I got my hopes up. The first Chairman (or presiding officer) was Sam Bassett. He apparently didn't get the memo, and mistakenly thought the commission's job was to investigate, and uncover problems. They did that - and we all know what happened when they were close to discussing the report of Craig Beyler. What I didn't know before this week was some of the behind the scenes maneuverings.
I wrote last week about the memo that was prepared on the issue of jurisdiction. Sam Bassett submitted a response, which he was kind enough to share with me. Needless to say, he thought the commission's jurisdiction was not so limited. He noted the memo was employing an extremely restrictive - and in some cases nonsensical - reading of the statutory language. He also pointed out that this discussion had already taken place. The following is from Mr. Bassett's memo:
In February 2009, when questions concerning the authority of the FSC to conduct the investigation on the Willingham and Moon case were raised by members of the Governor's staff, the undersigned personally contacted Senator Whitmire's office to ensure the FSC was not overstepping its authority. On February 26, 2009, Larance Coleman, who advises the Senator on criminal justice issues, stated to the FSC chair that the FSC was doing what it was supposed to be doing.
The focus on the recent memo was on ascertaining legislative intent. The memo did everything but to go the source - i.e. the legislators who passed the bill authorizing the commission.
Mr. Bassett also addressed Mr. Bradley's concern over defining professional negligence and misconduct. That had also been discussed, and decided. The previous commission recognized that professional organizations did not define those terms, and therefore there was no recognized definition. They concluded they would be overstepping their authority to define terms that the legislature itself had not defined. Of course, the lack of such authority was not impediment to the current commission.
I think the clear reading of all this is that the governor's office did not like the way the commission was operating, and tried to change it. When that didn't work, they did what only the governor can do - change the commission. There should be no doubt that the current chairman knows what the goal of the commission is. So far, he appears to be right on target.
