The Texas Forensic Science Commission will review the case of Cameron Todd Willingham (pictured) as its first case in its investigation of forensic misconduct allegations. Willingham was executed in 2004 in Texas for three deaths that occurred in 1991 from a fire in his home. The State Fire Marshal’s office had originally ruled that the blaze was an arson started by an accelerant. But the Innocence Project of Cardozo Law School in New York submitted a 2006 report by five nationally known fire investigators that concluded the fire was not intentionally set. The report stated that the fire was not started by arson and that the indicators used by investigators to conclude that the fire was arson have since been proven to be scientifically invalid. Barry Sheck, co-director of the Innocence Project, said, “All the assumptions they were making were without any scientific merit.” Willingham had long claimed his innocence, even in the last moments before his execution. The panel will review if investigators’ testimony was consistent with science at the time and whether advances in science should have prompted them to question their original testimony.


(J. Lozano, “Texas to review arson case that ended in execution,” Associated Press, August 16, 2008). See Innocence.