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    2/17/2004 “I am an innocent man, convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do. From God’s dust I came and to dust I will return, so the Earth shall become my throne”

    The above was stated by Cameron Todd Willingham, before his execution in the state of Texas in 2004. Willingham was convicted of the murder of his three young children by arson. Before his execution, pioneer in fire analysis and science Gerald Hurst proved that Willingham was convicted using methods that did not adhere to modern scientific and forensic standards. He proved that the fire that killed Willingham’s children was just a house fire caused by a faulty heater rather than a malicious case of arson. Hurst’s findings were presented before several judiciary boards and then Governor of Texas Rick Perry in a last minute appeal for a stay of execution. Willingham’s appeal was denied and he was put to death. Willingham may have been one of the first cases of a  ”legally innocent” man put to death in the United States. The term legally proven innocent is a new one in the field of criminal justice and one not oft uttered in public. What exactly does such a  claim imply?

    Legal Innocence

    Legal innocence is a relatively new term that has come up several times in recent death row cases and over turned court cases. To be proven legally innocent the evidence in a given case must point to the individual having been wrongly imprisoned (or in this case executed) because the evidence presented in court was factually inaccurate. In Willingham’s case the base of evidence for his innocence comes from the reports of four fo the nation’s top fire analysts who maintain that the science used to convict Willingham was outdated, junk science that clearly stands in violation to the scientific standards of investigation (even in 1991) and furthermore even if that evidence met the scientific standards of inquiry that the evidence most certainly didn’t point to arson as the cause of the fatal fire. Since then a key witness in the case, a mentally ill jailhouse informent, has since recanted his damning statements against Willingham. Other witnesses have too altred their accounts.

    Texas Executed an Innocent Man on February 17 of 2004

    Gov. Rick Perry had the chance to look over WIllingham’s case and pardon him or offer a stay of execution so that the defense could explore the evidence their expert (Gerald Hurst, nationally renown fire expert) had presented, but instead sent Willingham to his death. After his death, Willingham’s supporters appealed to Texas lawmakers to investigate the case. Gov. Perry has repeatedly stalled the case, changing the investigative board to men of views that are partial to his (Gov. Perry’s) own views. 

    The Innocence Project

    You can review the innocence project’s case conclusions and info here—>

    http://bit.ly/willinghaminnocenceproject  

    The Innocence Project has since filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas for Official Oppression in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham.

    The New Yorker

    You can also read the New Yorker investigative piece on the Willingham case, here—>

    http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann?yrail

    It’s an excellent look at the case.

    As someone who keeps up with international affairs, it’s tough for me to stomach the terrible things that happen in my own country. We’re not by any means third world or developing, yet we have executed innocent people without recourse. What’s even worse, is that Americans just don’t know…what happened to Cameron Willingham could happen to anyone.

    First they came for the communists,
    and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

    Then they came for the trade unionists,
    and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

    Then they came for the Jews,
    and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

    Then they came for me
    and there was no one left to speak out for me.


    There was no left to speak for Cameron, and now we owe it to him and the living to make sure this doesn’t happen again. But it could already be too late. On Wednesday, September 21 the state of Georgia executed Troy Davis, a man who was accused and convicted of killing a police officer in 1989. But, 8 out of the nine non-police witnesses in his case have since recanted( the one who didn’t recant is the man who is the most likely suspect in the crime), there was no forensic evidence that attach him to the murder, the gun has never been found…reasonable doubt was established, yet this man was put to death.

    Is it too late for justice? For the nation of my birth? Are we doomed to kill innocent men and let those who would cut us down walk the streets?