Blog #7

Was He Wrongly Executed?

             The case of Cameron Todd Willingham is a disturbing case that has never been completely “settled”. It is still being brought up for reinvestigation. With the case being as old as it is, it is difficult to determine whether he was truly innocent or guilty without reopening the case for official investigation. But there are definitely a few points of interest that direct my attention toward the fact he might have been innocent.
             First, it is important to bring out the points that caused his conviction and later his sentencing. One of the main points that the prosecution used in his conviction and sentencing was finding a ““burn trailer” . . . A flammable or combustible liquid doused on a floor will cause a fire to concentrate in these kinds of pockets, which is why investigators refer to them as “pour patterns” or “puddle configurations.”” (Grann 3). Two other main points that the prosecution used were finding the metal bed springs under the children’s beds had turned white and pieces of glass from some of the broken windows had a spiderweb-like pattern that is referred to as “crazed glass.” (Grann 3) They claimed that these pieces of evidence point toward the presence of a liquid accelerant. During the sentencing, the prosecution used the skull and serpent tattoo Willingham had on his arm, and the Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden posters he had on his wall as evidence that he was a sociopath. (Grann 9)
            Years after he was in convicted and sentenced a volunteer at an organization that opposed the death penalty began to write him, and went to see him as a goodwill project. She said that when she had first began to communicate with him she believed he was guilty, but the more she wrote him she began to become curious about the case. She began to look into the case, and almost immediately found discrepancies with the eyewitnesses. As she search further, she found that one of the psychologists that was used in the sentencing had had his psychology license revoked for testifying in some cases without actually evaluating the person on trial. One of the prosecutions key witnesses was a cellmate who testified that Willingham confessed to him he had set the fire; this same witness was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and happened to be on drugs at the time of the trial (Cameron 3).
            Gilbert eventually contacted an expert arson investigator named Dr. Gerald Hurst. Hurst looked through the evidence from the original investigation and immediately began to look into it more closely because some of the evidence was not right. He then proceeded to prove that the main points the prosecution had used were false. He proved that the “pour patterns” could not be caused by accelerants, since accelerants did not leave brown spots behind. He also proved that the “crazed glass” was caused by rapid cooling, such as water hitting hot glass, rather than by rapid heating. During other official experiments, a house was ignited with the use of no liquid accelerants and all the majors points that caused Willingham’s conviction occurred at this house as well. Hurst concluded that all the evidence pointed toward the fact that there was not sufficient proof to prove that the fire had been started deliberately (Grann 13).
            Even after all the evidence that was brought up by Hurst and other experts, Willingham was never granted even a stay of execution. I find it hard to believe that he could be executed on schedule with all the evidence that was brought to light toward the contrary. Was he innocent? I can’t say for sure; because he was never retried. But, was Willingham wrongfully executed? I definitely believe he was. He should have at least been granted a stay of execution until the matter could have been reinvestigated completely.
            “Cameron Todd Willingham: Wrongfully Convicted and Executed in Texas”. innocenceproject.org. Innocence Project, Sep. 2011. Web. 3 May 2012
            Grann, David. “Trial by Fire”. newyorker.com. The New Yorker. 7 Sep. 2009. Web. 3 May 2012