Did Texas execute an innocent man?

A big, Texas-sized controversy is brewing in the Lone Star state over Governor Rick Perry's decision to replace three members of the state's forensics science panel because of their pending hearing over whether or not the state executed an innocent man in 2004. The man in question, Cameron Todd Willingham, was executed for a 1991 house fire that killed his three daughters in which prosecutors say Willingham purposely set. According to a report in the Dallas Morning News, fire investigators believed the fire had burn patterns consistent with arson. Willingham claimed that he ran outside after one of his daughters told him about the fire and tried to go back in and get the others, but couldn't due to the fire spreading so rapidly.

The Chicago Tribune in 2004 asked experts to do their own investigation of the case and their conclusion was that the fire may've been caused by a flashover, an intense heat burst that causes an entire room to erupt in flames. Outdated investigation methods, they claimed, caused the fire investigators to conclude the arson charge. The New Yorker magazine has printed an extensive story on this.

I don't know if the late Mr. Willingham is truly innocent or guilty, as I've not read all the evidence to believe one way or the other. But I also find it funny how Governor Perry essentially blocked an investigation by replacing the forensics science panel and naming the new chairman, Williamson County district attorney John Bradley, an ally of Perry's and one who is notoriously tough on crime in the suburban Austin county.

The governor believes that Willingham is guilty (just like all politicians say when asked about executions). But what does the governor have to hide? Even more callous is that there are probably innocent men and women on Texas' death row that could be innocent, but, judging by his action, Perry doesn't seem to care. He would rather play politics than to make sure that a walking dead man really is guilty before being put to death. That's not being soft on crime. It's simply doing the right thing. Even death penalty supporters should agree to that.

If Willingham is truly innocent, it should start a debate as to why this country continues to execute prisoners. Just think what would've happened if any or all of the exonerated men released from Illinois' death row by then-governor George Ryan earlier this decade would've been executed for the crimes they didn't commit. Such a chilling scenario should be reason enough not to support the death penalty.

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