Texas officials to review possible wrongful execution

A panel of leading arson experts later found that the fire was not arson and that forensic experts at the time of Willingham’s trial should have known that the fire was an accident, not arson.

The panel will investigate faulty forensic analysis used in the convictions of Willingham and another man, Ernest Ray Willis. The two men were sentenced to death for arson murder based on similar “scientific” evidence, but their cases took very different paths. Willingham was executed in 2004. Willis was freed later the same year after a state judge heard evidence of his innocence tossed his conviction. He wasn’t retried. An independent panel of the country’s leading arson experts issued a report on the two cases in 2006 stating that neither of the two deadly fires was arson. The panel found that “each and every one" of the forensic interpretations that state experts made in both men’s trials was invalid.

Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck said the state commission’s decision to fully investigate the case is a “huge development” that could impact other cases. "These two cases in Texas are just the tip of the iceberg," Scheck said. "Across Texas and around the country, people are convicted of arson based on junk science that has been completely discredited for years."
The Texas Forensic Science Commission, one of just a few of its kind nationwide, was created in 2005 to investigate specific cases of forensic misconduct or negligence, as well as systemic forensics problems in the state. The nine-member group was funded for the first time in 2007 and is comprised of leading attorneys and forensic experts. The Innocence Project supports the creation of state groups to improve oversight and standardization of forensic testing.

Read more about the Willis and Willingham cases here.

For other articles and news see :

http://www.innocenceproject.org/docs/IP_online_0808.html

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