Texas execution system a damn mess

Eroding confidence in the scientific evidence used to convict and kill Cameron Todd Willingham is leading Texas to finally confront the systemic problems in its enthusiastic capital punishment policy.

The Chicago Tribune's Steve Mills writes:

A Chicago Tribune investigation of the Willingham case last December showed that he was prosecuted and convicted based primarily on arson theories that have since been repudiated by scientific advances - a fact that was backed up by testimony Tuesday by one of those experts, Dr. Gerald Hurst.

According to Hurst and three other fire experts who reviewed evidence in the case at the Tribune's request, the original investigation that concluded the fire was arson was flawed, relying on theories no longer considered valid. It is even possible that the fatal fire at the Willingham home in Corsicana, a small town about an hour south of Dallas, was accidental, according to the experts.

The possibility that Texas executed an innocent man is very real, and quite probable. Governor Rick Perry has independently created a commission to investigate something or other, but it has a "look busy" feel to it that is leading to legislators' call for a real commission with teeth.

Many prosecutors oppose expanding the power of Perry's committee, called the Criminal Justice Advisory Council. Barry Macha, the district attorney in Wichita County, testified legislators should first give the governor's panel a chance to work as designed.

But that drew a skeptical response from committee chairman, state Sen. John Whitmire.

"The problem is, they're appointed by the governor," Whitmire, also a Democrat from Houston, said of the council's members. "I would almost give them subpoena power and the first time they abuse it, we'll all come back."

Problem is, there are documents held by the governor's office that it won't release. You do the math. The Washington Post has an article as well.

Comments

[Thomas Nephew]

[musing] Wouldn't that be something -- Texas ending capital punishment. [/shakes self awake]

Wonder how long before one of the dozens of capital cases Gonzales and Bush napped through comes back to bite them, or at least dent their reputations.