---------This is an article written by Dahlia Lithwick in the Newsweek magazine.
The article describes a man, Cameron Todd Willingham, who allegedly set a Texas house fire in 1991. The house fire killed his three young daughters. He was convicted of arson and sentenced to death. A reporter researched the case said that the "whole prosecution was a train wreck." He also said that "every step in the appeal, Willingham's claims of innocence were met with the response that he'd already had more than enough due process for a babykiller." There were at least five indepent investigations of the supposed arson case. Every single investigation came away with little doubt that it was accidental. The likely cause was a space heater or bad wiring. No one at the state Board of Pardons and Paroles or the govenor's office took note of these investigations or the reports that were sent out protesting Willingham's evidence. Willingham was executed in 2004. His reported last words were, "The most distressing thing is the state of Texas will kill an innocent man and doesn't care they're making a mistake."
The article also describes some Supreme Court ruling. In June, the Supreme Court ruled that a "prisoner did not have a constitutional right to demand DNA testing of evidence in police files, even at his own expense." Chief Justice John Roberts said that "A criminal defendent proved guilty after a fair trial does not have the same liberty interests as a free man."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/214833
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Very interesting stuff. As I indicated, there is an innocence project here in Idaho that reinvestigates those cases on death row in the state of Idaho to free innocent defendants. Greg Hampikian runs it. If you're interested, you should contact him.
ReplyDeleteAs a sidenote, what is the purpose of the fish tank? Although fun, I don't know how it relates to the purpose of the blog. You'll want to think of that for your design/utility grade at the end.
Thanks for the distraction. . . at the very least. I wondered if the fish would grow or if they would die if they were not fed. Nope. . .nothing changed. Oh well. . .it was a good break!
A petition to Governor Rick Perry and the State of Texas to acknowledge that the fire in the Cameron Todd Willingham case was not arson, therefore no crime was committed and on February 17, 2004, Texas executed an innocent man.
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