Cameron Todd Willingham

Cameron Todd Willingham (January 9, 1968 – February 17, 2004), born in Carter County, Oklahoma, was executed by lethal injection on February 17, 2004 by the state of Texas for murdering his three daughters—two-year-old Amber Louise Kuykendall and one-year-old twins Karmon Diane Willingham and Kameron Marie Willingham— in 1991 by setting his house on fire. Seventeen years after the fire, a report conducted by 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.”

Fire

The fire occurred on December 23, 1991 in Corsicana, Texas.

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.

Execution

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. [Remaining portion of statement omitted due to profanity.]" He then attempted to maneuver his hand in an obscene gesture towards his ex-wife, the mother of the children, who was among the witnesses to the execution.

Evidence of innocence

Lighter fluid was 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 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." Neighbors also testified that Willingham did not try hard enough to save his 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. Other accounts say that Willingham told neighbor Diane Barbee to call the fire department and then broke some windows of the house. He grew increasingly hysterical and had to be retrained with handcuffs to prevent him from entering the house. One early-arriving fireman said that he had also had to restrain Willingham. 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 an effort to cause a miscarriage.

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."

See also

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

References

• 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.