After exam­in­ing evi­dence from the cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tion of Cameron Willingham (pic­tured), four nation­al arson experts have con­clud­ed that the orig­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion of Willingham’s case was flawed and it is pos­si­ble the fire was acci­den­tal. The inde­pen­dent inves­ti­ga­tion, report­ed by the Chicago Tribune, found that pros­e­cu­tors and arson inves­ti­ga­tors used arson the­o­ries that have since been repu­di­at­ed by sci­en­tif­ic advances. Willingham was exe­cut­ed ear­li­er this year in Texas despite his con­sis­tent claims of inno­cence. He was con­vict­ed of mur­der­ing his three chil­dren in a 1991 house fire.

Arson expert Gerald Hurst said, ​“There’s noth­ing to sug­gest to any rea­son­able arson inves­ti­ga­tor that this was an arson fire. It was just a fire.” Former Louisiana State University fire instruc­tor Kendall Ryland added, “[It] made me sick to think this guy was exe­cut­ed based on this inves­ti­ga­tion.… They exe­cut­ed this guy and they’ve just got no idea — at least not sci­en­tif­i­cal­ly — if he set the fire, or if the fire was even inten­tion­al­ly set.”

Willingham was con­vict­ed of cap­i­tal mur­der after arson inves­ti­ga­tors con­clud­ed that 20 indi­ca­tors of arson led them to believe that an accel­erent had been used to set three sep­a­rate fires inside his home. Among the only oth­er evi­dence pre­sent­ed by pros­e­cu­tors dur­ing the the tri­al was tes­ti­mo­ny from jail­house snitch Johnny E. Webb, a drug addict on psy­chi­atric med­ica­tion, who claimed Willingham had con­fessed to him in the coun­ty jail.

Some of the jurors who con­vict­ed Willingham were trou­bled when told of the new case review. Juror Dorinda Brokofsky asked, ​“Did any­body know about this pri­or to his exe­cu­tion? Now I will have to live with this for the rest of my life. Maybe this man was inno­cent.” Prior to the exe­cu­tion, Willingham’s defense attor­neys pre­sent­ed expert tes­ti­mo­ny regard­ing the new arson inves­ti­ga­tion to the state’s high­est court, as well as to Texas Governor Rick Perry. No relief was grant­ed and Willingham was exe­cut­ed on February 17, 2004. Coincidentally, less than a year after Willingham’s exe­cu­tion, arson evi­dence pre­sent­ed by some of the same experts who had appealed for relief in Willingham’s case helped free Ernest Willis from Texas’s death row. The experts not­ed that the evi­dence in the Willingham case was near­ly iden­ti­cal to the evi­dence used to exon­er­ate Willis. (Chicago Tribune, December 9, 2004). Read the Chicago Tribune arti­cle. See Innocence Case Descriptions #117 regard­ing Ernest Willis’ case.

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