Cameron Todd Willingham

Cameron Todd Willingham (January 9, 1968 - February 17, 2004), born in Carter County, Oklahoma, was convicted in 1992 in Texas of murdering his three daughters in a fire the previous year, and was executed in 2004. Willingham's case gained renewed attention in 2009 when an investigative report in The New Yorker, drawing upon arson investigation experts and advances in fire science, purported to demonstrate that, contrary to the claims of the prosecution, there was no evidence that the house fire was intentionally set.

Fire

The fire occurred on December 23, 1991, in Corsicana, Texas. Killed in the fire were Willingham's three daughters, two-year-old Amber Louise Kuykendall and one-year-old twins Karmon Diane Willingham and Kameron Marie Willingham. Willingham himself escaped the home with only minor burns. Stacy Kuykendall, Willingham's then-wife and the mother of his three daughters, was not home at the time of the fire, as she was out shopping. Prosecutors charged that Willingham set the fire and killed the children in an attempt to cover up abuse of the girls. This was in spite of the fact that that there was never any evidence of child abuse and Willingham's wife, Stacy, had told prosecutors that he had never abused the children, "our kids were spoiled rotten" she said and insisted he would never harm their children.

Seventeen years after the fire and five years after Willingham's execution, a report conducted by Dr Craig Beyler, hired by the Texas Forensic Science Commission to review the case, found that "a finding of arson could not be sustained". Beyler said that key testimony from a fire marshal at Willingham's trial was "hardly consistent with a scientific mind-set and is more characteristic of mystics or psychics".

The Texas Forensic Science Commission was scheduled to discuss the report by Dr Beyler at a meeting on October 2,2009, but two days before the meeting Texas Gov. Rick Perry replaced the chair of the commission and two other members. The new chair canceled the meeting - sparking accusations that Perry was interfering with the investigation and using it for his own political advantage.

Investigation and trial

Willingham was charged with murder on January 8, 1992. During his trial in August 1992, he was offered a life term in exchange for a guilty plea, which he turned down insisting he was innocent. At trial, the fire investigator Vasquez testified that there were three points of origin for the fire, which indicated that the fire was "intentionally set by human hands". A sample of burned material near the doorway of the house tested positive for mineral spirits, indicating the presence of lighter fluid. Willingham had escaped the fire with bare feet and no burn marks. This was taken as evidence that accelerant was poured by Willingham as he left the house. Several witnesses testified for the prosecution.

In 2009, John Jackson, the prosecutor at the trial stated that burns suffered by Willingham were so superficial as to suggest that the same were self-inflicted in an attempt to divert suspicion from himself. However, The New Yorker writer David Grann says that fire investigators who reviewed the case told him that "Willingham’s first-degree and second-degree burns were consistent with being in a fire before the moment of “flashover”—that is, when everything in a room suddenly ignites".

Commenting on the condition of the house, Jackson added "any escape or rescue route from the burning house was blocked by a refrigerator which had been pushed against the back door, requiring any person attempting escape to run through the conflagration at the front of the house." There were two refrigerators in the Willingham house. Jimmie Hensley, a police detective, and Douglas Fogg, the assistant fire chief, who both investigated the fire, told The New Yorker author Grann that they had never believed that the fridge was part of the arson plot. “It didn’t have nothing to do with the fire,” Fogg said.

Jackson also contradicted Willingham's account by claiming blood-gas analysis at Navarro Regional Hospital shortly after the fire revealed that Willingham had not inhaled any smoke. Willingham's statement and eyewitness accounts had detailed rescue attempts.

Consistent with typical Navarro County death penalty practice, Willingham was offered the opportunity to eliminate himself as a suspect by polygraph examination, which "was rejected in the most vulgar and insulting manner," according to Jackson. Against the advice of his own counsel, Willingham also declined a life sentence in exchange for his guilty plea. He insisted he would not admit to something he had not done, even if it meant sparing his life.

Alleged domestic abuse

The prosecutor has claimed the fire which killed the children was the third attempt by Willingham to do so. He also claimed Willingham had attempted to abort both pregnancies by kicking his wife intending to cause miscarriages. However, in a follow up article by David Grann, it was noted that "...there is evidence that Willingham hit his wife, even when she was pregnant, but there were no police reports or medical evidence indicating that Willingham had tried to abort or kill his children" and that "Willingham’s wife insisted during the trial and under interrogation that Willingham had not physically abused the children"

The prosecutor also claimed that Willingham was a serial wife abuser, both physically and emotionally. Jackson also claimed Willingham had abused animals and was a sociopath. However, those not associated with the case paint a different picture of Willingham. His former probation officer, Polly Goodin, said he had never demonstrated bizarre or sociopathic behavior and “He was probably one of my favorite kids,” she said. Even a former judge named Bebe Bridges—who had often stood, as she put it, on the “opposite side” of Willingham in the legal system, and who had sent him to jail for stealing— said that she could not imagine him killing his children. “He was polite, and he seemed to care,” she said.

Appeals and Execution

Willingham maintained his innocence up until his death and spent years trying to appeal his conviction. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, led by controversial judge Sharon Keller, denied Willingham of his writ of habeas corpus and a month before his execution. Dr. Gerald Hurst, an Austin scientist and fire investigator reviewed the case and concluded there was "no evidence of arson, the same conclusion reached by other fire investigators. Hurst's report was sent to governor Rick Perry's office as well as Board of Pardons and Paroles along with Willingham's appeal for clemency. Neither responded to Willingham's appeals. Later, Hurst remarked, "The whole case was based on the purest form of junk science," Hurst said. "There was no item of evidence that indicated arson." Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said the governor had weighed the "totality of the issues that led to (Willingham's) conviction." She said he was aware of a "claim of a reinterpretation of (the) arson testimony."

Willingham was executed by lethal injection on February 17, 2004, at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville. He was 36 years old.

When asked if he had a final statement, Willingham said: "Yeah. The only statement I want to make is that 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. I gotta go, Road Dog. I love you, Gabby." He then addressed his ex-wife, Stacy Kuykendall, who was watching about 8 feet away through a window. Willingham said several times, "I hope you rot in hell, bitch." He then attempted to maneuver his hand, strapped at the wrist to the execution gurney, into an obscene gesture. Kuykendall showed no reaction to the outburst. While she initially believed in her husband's innocence, following the trial she told him she no longer believed him and publicized her change of heart. Willingham was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m., seven minutes after the lethal dose of chemicals began.

Evidence

Charcoal starter fluid and an outdoor grill were kept on the front porch of Willingham’s house as evidenced by a melted container found there. Some of this fluid may have entered the front doorway of the house carried along by fire hose water. It was alleged this fluid was deliberately poured to start the fire and that Willingham chose this entranceway so as to impede rescue attempts. The prosecution also used other arson theories that have since been brought into question. Beyler wrote in his report, "in the end, the only (basis) for the determination of arson ... is the burn patterns on the floor of the children's bedroom, the hallway and the porch interpreted as accelerant spill. None of these determinations have any basis in modern fire science."

In addition to the arson evidence, a jailhouse informant named Johnny Webb claimed Willingham confessed that he set the fire to hide his wife's physical abuse of the girls, although the girls showed no other injuries besides those caused by the fire. Webb later told a reporter for The New Yorker, "it’s very possible I misunderstood what he said. Being locked up in that little cell makes you kind of crazy. My memory is in bits and pieces. I was on a lot of medication at the time. Everyone knew that." Webb was later diagnosed bipolar and even the prosecutor described Webb as "an unreliable kind of guy" yet after Webb's testimony Jackson successfully got him released from prison early. Webb later sent Jackson a Motion to Recant Testimony, that declared, “Mr. Willingham is innocent of all charges.” Willingham's attorneys were not notified and Webb later recanted his recantation.

According to testimony, at the time of the fire eyewitnesses reported that Willingham was outside the house and in a distressed state calling out that his babies were burning. He frantically told neighbor Diane Barbee to call the fire department and then broke the window our of the child's bedroom. He grew increasingly hysterical and had to be restrained with handcuffs to prevent him from re-entering the house. One early-arriving fireman said that he had also had to restrain Willingham for his own safety. One neighbor also testified that Willingham could have tried to re-enter the home to rescue the children. They allege he "crouched down" in his front yard and watched the house burn for a period of time without attempting to enter the home or go to neighbors for help or request they call firefighters. Eyewitnesses also described his appearance as having "singed hair on his chest, eyelids, and head and had a two inch burn injury on his right shoulder. His wrists and hands were blackened with smoke. He was eventually transported to the hospital for treatment, still resisting and still in handcuffs"

The prosecution claimed that Willingham may have been motivated by a desire to rid himself of his unwanted children. Willingham had previously been arrested for assaulting his then-pregnant wife.

In a 2009 article discussing the reasons why Willingham was found guilty, Jackson recalled witness statements established that Willingham was overheard whispering to his deceased older daughter at the funeral home, "You're not the one who was supposed to die." Jackson stated that Willingham's comments was an indicator of guilt. In a rebuttal David Gran wrote, "If the arson investigators had concluded there was no scientific evidence that a crime had occurred—as the top fire investigators in the country have now determined—Willingham’s words at the funeral would surely be viewed as a sign that he was tormented by the fact that he had survived without saving his children."

Since Willingham's execution, persistent questions have been raised as to the accuracy of the forensic evidence used in the conviction; specifically, whether it can be proven that an accelerant (such as the lighter fluid mentioned above) was used to start the fatal fire.

Fire investigator Gerald L. Hurst reviewed the case documents, including the trial transcriptions and an hour-long videotape of the aftermath of the fire scene. Hurst said, "There's nothing to suggest to any reasonable arson investigator that this was an arson fire. It was just a fire." In June 2009 the State of Texas ordered an unprecedented re-examination of the case and may issue a ruling on it at a later date.

A Chicago Tribune investigative article concluded: "Over the past five years, the Willingham case has been reviewed by nine of the nation's top fire scientists -- first for the Tribune, then for the Innocence Project, and now for the commission. All concluded that the original investigators relied on outdated theories and folklore to justify the determination of arson. The only other evidence of significance against Willingham was twice recanted testimony by another inmate who testified that Willingham had confessed to him. Jailhouse snitches are viewed with skepticism in the justice system, so much so that some jurisdictions have restrictions against their use."

City of Corsicana Response to Beyler Report

On 4 October 2009, the City of Corsicana released a formal response to the Beyler Report on the investigation of the fire that killed Willingham's three children at the behest of the Texas Forensic Science Commission. The city's response was sharply critical of Beyler, arguing:

-Beyler overlooked 27 inconsistencies in Willingham's testimony about actions he took before, during, and after the fire.

-Beyler inaccurately quoted Doug Fogg, the Corsican fire investigator, as saying that plastic toys don’t melt, and that latex paint doesn’t burn off wood, which he did not say.

-In accepting Willingham’s claims that the fire was electrical or gas-ignited, Beyler ignored the fact investigators had looked for electrical and gas-related causes, and eliminated those.

-Beyler was unreasonably dismissive of the testimony of Johnny Webb, a fellow inmate in the Navarro County Jail, to whom Willingham allegedly confessed. Webb told the jury that Willingham started the fire by pouring lighter fluid in an X pattern on the children’s bedroom floor, a pattern which matches the diagram in the fire marshal’s report. According to the city,Webb was the first to testify and did not know about the diagram.

The City of Corsicana's response did agree with Beyler's report on two points, that fire investigator Vasquez could not have read Willingham's mind and that the local investigators should have taken samples from the house's concrete porch for analysis.

The City's response also stated:

“Given some of Dr. Beyler’s distortions of the trial record, as described below, it may be that he has assumed the role of an advocate.”

See also

• Capital punishment in Texas
• Capital punishment in the United States
• List of individuals executed in Texas

References

• Grann, David (September 7, 2009). "Trial by Fire". The New Yorker.
• Mills, Steve; Maurice Possley (December 9, 2004). "Man executed on disproved forensics". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
• Offender Information. Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
• Last Statement. Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
• Cameron Todd Willingham. The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
• Blumenthal, Ralph. Faulty Testimony Sent 2 to Death Row, Panel Finds. The New York Times (2006-05-03). Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
• "Document - USA (Texas): Further Information on Death penalty, Cameron Todd Willingham". December 13, 2004. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
• Carson, David (February 18, 2004). "Texas Execution Information: Cameron Willingham".
• Craig L. Beyler, Ph.D. Technical Director (August 17, 2009). "Analysis of the Fire Investigation Methods and Procedures Used in the Criminal Arson Cases Against Ernest Ray Willis and Cameron Todd Willingham". docstoc.com. Retrieved September 1, 2009.

External links

• City of Corsicana Response to Beyler Report, 29 September 2009
• Analysis of the Fire Investigation Methods and Procedures Used in the Criminal Arson Case Against Ernest Ray Willis and Cameran Todd Willingham - Craig L. Beyler.
• Willingham Files - A collection of all stories published by the Corsicana Daily Sun
• Kaye, Randi. "Did Texas execute innocent man?". CNN. Retrieved 2009-10-04. (Video)