Posted on October 1, 2009 by Walter Reaves

I want my ball back now!

My office got a call yesterday afternoon telling me the forensic commission meeting scheduled for Friday had been cancelled. Like most I was surprised. The meeting had been scheduled for months, an agenda had been set, and people had made travel arrangements. Later I found out why it was cancelled - Governor Perry decided to replace 3 of the members, including the chairman. The new chair was none other than the prosecution's "go to" guy - John Bradley.

I'm not sure whether Governor Perry thinks everyone is stupid, or he just doesn't care. You would think someone would have pointed out the ramifications of what he was doing. Last week he expressed his belief in Cameron Todd Willingham's guilt, and became the first person to question the expert's conclusions. Now, when Dr. Beyler is scheduled to come discuss the case with them he replaces the chairman, and has them cancel the meeting. Does he truly think anyone does not see this for what it is - an attempt to manipulate the outcome.

Surely he doesn't think this is going to fly under the radar. I can't remember a story that has generated as much coverage as Todd Willingham's. Every day there are several new stories or editiorials across the country (and the world) talking about this. Everyone is following it - and now everyone knows what happened, because the cancellation of the meeting is sure to gain just as much press.

I said when they first started looking at this case that I didn't think anything was going to happen. It was a political commission, and I expected politics to influence the ultimate decision. I was as surprised as anyone when Dr. Beyler's report came out. The only person who may have been more surprised was Goernor Perry. It obviously didn't turn out the way he wanted, and now he wants to change things. If you don't believe they have already discussed this case you have to believe that Governor Perry believes his new appointee is going to be an advocate of Todd Willingham's guilt.

One thing he did accomplish is to effectively negate the impact of the forensic commission. I don't see how anyone will take seriously anything they do from  here on.

When I read the reports last night it reminded of the 6 year old who gets mad and takes his ball so they have to stop the game; if you aren't going to play the way I want we aren't going to play at all. I'm far from politically savvy, but you have to wonder if this may not turn out to be the signature on the Governor's death warrant for his campaign. After all, who wants a Governor who thows tantrums like a 6 year old?

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Posted on September 10, 2009 by Walter Reaves

Why the interest now?

I hate to question a good thing - the saying "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" comes to mind. But Over the last week I have been amazed at the coverage being given to Cameron Todd Willingham. You can't skim the blogs or the newspapers without seeing some discussion of the case. (For a great collection of the coverage see Grit's recent post) I'm glad people are looking at this issue - I only wonder why it wasn't done earlier.

Todd Willingham's story of an innocent man being executed based on junk science is not new. Steve Mills and Maurice Posely were the first to cover the case. The two veteran Chicago Tribune reporters were the first to cover the case - in 2004. Their story concluded that Willingham was probably executed for an accidental fire. The story got some coverage in the national media, but nothing close to what the current coverage is. The New York based innocence project was also aware of the case; they seized upon the similarities between Willingham's case and that of Ernest Willis. Although the cases were almost identical, the result was not. Willis was freed - with the help of the prosecutor - while Willingham was executed. The Innocence Project solicited the leading arson experts in the world to review the case. They released their report in 2006; their conclusion - the fire was not intentionally set, and the testimony used to obtain the conviction was nothing more than a collection of myths and "old wives tales."  This report received a little more traction, largely because of the connections of the Innocence Project. However, it quickly died out.

One thing the report did accomplish though was that it pushed the State of Texas into action. The Forensic Commission was created, and the first subject studied was the Willingham and Willis cases. Even though they had a  report from a panel of leading experts, the commission went out and hired their own expert. Not surprisingly (or perhaps surprisingly for some) the state's expert came back with the same conclusion reached by the panel - the fire was nothing more than an accident. At the same time - not by design because I know the reporter had been working on this for several months - the New Yorker article came out. The combination of the two led to the almost daily discussion now about this case, and what happens next.

My question is why wasn't this a story back in 2004, or at least 2006? You cannot estimate what impact an earlier discussion would have had on views about the death penalty, as well as arson investigations. So while we are debating what happens next, maybe we should also be considering why we weren't talking about this earlier.

 

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