Texas Gov. Rick Perry has taken an perfectly Nixonian step of gutting a commission just days before it was to hear expert testimony indicating that Texas executed an innocent man, Cameron Todd Willingham. There is growing evidence that Texas not only convicted an innocent man but fought to prevent him from presenting evidence to prove his innocence. Just days before the hearing before the Texas Forensic Science Commission, Perry dumped the Chairman and declined to reappoint two commission members. The move may block the ability of Craig Beyler, an arson investigation expert, to prove that Willingham was innocent of setting a fire in his home in Corsicana, Texas, that killed his three daughters.
Perry replaced Chairman Sam Bassett with John Bradley, the district attorney of Williamson County, near Austin.
Beyler has stated that there was no credible evidence that Willingham set the fire or that it was even an act of arson. Two prior reports found that the fire was not caused by arson. Other experts have discredited the evidence presented by prosecutors in Texas.
Unable to change such reports, Perry has changed the commission and withheld appointments — effectively postponing any hearing.
To the day of his execution, Willingham insisted that he was innocent.
Perry has introduced a new Zen-like question: if evidence of innocence is spoken but no one is there to hear it, is the person really shown to be innocent?
For the story, click here
It isn’t accurate that the death penalty is a deterrent. Southern states use the death penalty far more and have higher homicide rates than the national average.
Better to put an innocent man to death than risk embarassment. These are the values of the hypocrite Republican party who advocate Christian values (i.e. protecting life of a fetus), who not only fail to prevent the death of an innocent, grieving father for fear of admitting a mistake, but then refusing to admit it was mistaken. What they want is not justice, it’s revenge regardless of guilt. Perry’s not interested in preventing this sort of thing from happening again, the more convictions the better. Like G.W. Bush, Perry will never admit he’s made a mistake no matter how many falsly accused, innocent people die at on his watch just so long as he never has to apologize. Better to save face than an innocent life.
He’s a Dirt Bag.
Getplaning. Because Texas has gone awry, dosn’t mean that the death penalty cannot be an effective deterrent..
Perry as a governor is even worse than Bush. Perry is an ally of Palin and even more aligned with the christian right than Bush was. Just think we had Ann Richards not that long ago.
foo 1, October 1, 2009 at 4:38 pm
The only redeeming feature of Texas is Austin. They should have called it Oasis.
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I could not agree more than in the 70’s and 80’s. Then the whole damn state went R. Austin is an enclave. Oh yeah mostly immune to the rest of the shit from all the rest of the state.
When was the last time you were there?
billy- Cases like this are precisely why I oppose the death penalty. Justice in America is not about truth, it is about winning. Another innocent man put to death, and Texas is more concerned with ass-covering than admitting their mistake.
how does his differ morally (ethically? Buddha) from the guy who takes the “Bridge Out” sign from the roadside.
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I have never heard of someone doing that. Wow, what will people do next? Cook people in Microwaves? Oh yeah, Hitler did that. Oh well not much more to surprise me, unless I find that the holocaust never happened.
The only redeeming feature of Texas is Austin. They should have called it Oasis.
Buelaman:
“(I’m speaking of the evil that drips from their persona)”
It’s that smarmy smile on the head of a viper.
I think you are one sick puppy, b-man. Perry is a Tom Cruise look alike doll. Not much in brains either. I think the man with the picture on the top right is W’s half brother.
“There is growing evidence that Texas not only convicted an innocent man but fought to prevent him from presenting evidence to prove his innocence.”
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My skepticism aside, I like to think ol’ smiling Rick with the non-moving hair will receive the justice he dispensed while alive when he gets to that spa down below. If he intentionally withheld a process that would have helped an innocent man escape the gas chamber, how does his differ morally (ethically? Buddha) from the guy who takes the “Bridge Out” sign from the roadside.
Does anyone else see the remarkable likeness that Perry has to GW Bush (I’m speaking of the evil that drips from their persona).
Swartzmoremom,
Who the hell from Haskel, Texas can think forward. The only thing they have in West Texas is oil and football. Sometimes it is hard to tell who the players are. They only have one DNA too.
Buddha,
Take care of KC and make em win the next three, The Tigers are 3 out.
Billy,
Go to a Tigers game, they need the win. M go Blow, but they will beat MSU.
AY,
I’m pretty sure 3 is the limit.
Hey JT Comment is awaiting confirmation. Maybe too many links.
I hope Kay Bailey Hutchinson beats him in the primary. Granted, she is not that great but he is so incredibly backward thinking.
To answer the question above: Could someone file a mandamus petition to force an appointment?
I believe that the answer is no. The Commission has no real power or authority an was created in 2005. I would suppose in response to the execution. I believe that it occurred this way as Texas is a Biannual Legislature. 05, 07, 09′ etc.
Perry has appointed 2 of the 3 and awaits a confirmation from the Texas Defense Bar for the 3rd. It is in my opinion a stupid move as (if you see) Kay Bailey Hutchinson a witch in her own right will trample him steed and all. She is as vicious as Ann Richards, maybe even more so.
But extracted out of 3 different sites.
“Willingham was executed in February 2004 — proclaiming his innocence and hoping aloud that his wife would “rot in hell” — for the deaths of his three young daughters in a fire at their Corsicana home on Dec. 23, 1991.”
Link: http://www.sfexaminer.com/nation/ap/texas-commission-to-consider-report-disputing-the-arson-finding-that-led-to-mans-execution.html
and:
The commission employed the person below:
“Baltimore-based arson expert Craig Beyler, who was hired by the commission, concluded that the arson finding was scientifically unsupported and investigators at the scene had “poor understandings of fire science.” His report has bolstered arguments from advocacy groups that Willingham was innocent and wrongly executed.
Earlier this month, Perry expressed confidence in Willingham’s guilt and derided reports questioning the arson investigation, referring to their authors as “supposed experts.” Perry was governor in 2004, when Willingham was executed.
The state commission doesn’t have the power to rule on Willingham’s guilt or innocence but was expected to release a report next year on the validity of the arson investigation.
Link: http://www.star-telegram.com/local/story/1648784.html
And the year of the creation of the commission:
The Texas Forensic Science Commission was created
by the Texas Legislature in 2005 for the purpose of:
link: http://www.fsc.state.tx.us/
Could someone file a mandamus petition to force an appointment?
This does not surprise me at all. After all it is the beginning of election year in Texas.
What does surprise me is that in Texas No Medical Degree is require to be a Coroner/Crowner.
Medical Examiner and Coroner Systems: Current and Future Needs
This is a load of shit to require no specialized training.
“Moreover, early state constitutions explicitly mentioned the position of coroner, often without defining the role.3 Georgia’s state constitution was the first. Article XL stated that, “[i]n the absence of the chief justice, the senior justice on the bench shall act as chief justice with the clerk of the county, attorney for the State, sheriff, coroner, constable, and the jurors.”4
The first formal acknowledgment of the need for medical training for coroners occurred in 1860, when Maryland passed legislation allowing coroners to require that a physician be present at an inquest.”
link: http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12589&page=241
In Texas as a few other states a medical examiner need not be a physician or trained in pathology. They only need to be elected some counties require them to be Doctors.
See the result for this article:
Texas commission to consider report disputing the arson finding that led to man’s execution
Now the Texas Forensic Science Commission will review a report Friday from an expert it hired who concluded the original arson determination was faulty.
Link: http://www.sfexaminer.com/nation/ap/texas-commission-to-consider-report-disputing-the-arson-finding-that-led-to-mans-execution.html
OMG
Texas alarms me, because they have been “to quick” to apply the death penalty. I support the death penalty as a whole. I don’t like it when information that can exonerate a prisoner is not analyzed fully, especially in this sophisticated day and age. What with the advent of modern forensics, especially the use of DNA sampling to help substantiate a persons involvement in a crime, just seems a little primitive and impulsive. Of course, if he is guilty….