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"I just have a gut feelin, ya know?"Asked what it would mean if post-conviction experts are correct and the fire wasn’t arson, Perry said he is convinced by other factors in the case beyond the science that Willingham committed the crime
AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry gave his most spirited defense today of the arson investigation that led to the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.
Calling Willingham "a monster" who was an acknowledged wife-beater, Perry said he harbors no doubts that the unemployed mechanic purposefully set fire to his Corsicana home in 1991 in order to kill his three young children.
"This was a guy who murdered his three children, who tried to beat his wife into an abortion – person after person has stood up and testified to the facts of this case, that, quite frankly, you guys aren't covering," Perry told reporters. "This was a bad man.”
Asked what it would mean if post-conviction experts are correct and the fire wasn’t arson, Perry said he is convinced by other factors in the case beyond the science that Willingham committed the crime.
He said the opinion of one fire scientist is in opposition to findings of the jury and state appeals courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, both of which upheld the conviction and punishment.
Since the fire, arson science has been revised, and indicators that investigators used at the time to find that Willingham set the fire have since been discredited.
In the past five years, at least six arson experts have examined evidence in the Willingham case and found that there were no credible indications that the fire was intentionally set.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...21784a018.html
"I just have a gut feelin, ya know?"Asked what it would mean if post-conviction experts are correct and the fire wasn’t arson, Perry said he is convinced by other factors in the case beyond the science that Willingham committed the crime
We need a way to prosecute this type of negligence.
If you're an engineer and are found negligent in your professional design, you are liable for damages if someone gets hurt or is killed. Why is this so different for a governor?
I am in the minority amongst my conservative breathren; but we should not be executing people.
I'm a liberal and I think we should execute people but the appeal process and new evidence should always be taken seriously. Perry allowed politics to get in the way here.
I agree. Put a cop killer on that table and I'll be first in line to push the button, but when you look at it all, everything damning against him can either be rebutted by another witness, different testimony by the same witness, misconstrued, or recanted. There is no question in my mind he was executed for one reason and one alone, because investigators told the jury the fire was arson.
To explain further: If you've ever watched a Dateline show about a court case you'll hear the prosecution and at the end think: Man that person is GUILTY. Then you'll hear the defense and think: Man that person ain't guilty. You'd think the same thing in this case except experts testified that the fire was arson, and that's what mattered most.
I've come to the same conclusion.
Perry's defense of the mistaken state murder will end Perry's career (if lawyer or org has the balls to take on Perry and his mafia of sycophants)
Wing-nuts in Texas support public execution, so this situation of Perry executing a possibly innocent guy surprisingly may not hurt him with Texas wing-nuts....and they are the only folks who vote in the GOP nomination...
Just in case you don't realize how wack some people in TX are when it comes to executions..
A convicted murderer faces execution in Texas after jurors consulted the Bible while deliberating on his sentence.
By Tom Leonard in New York
Published: 5:56PM BST 15 Oct 2009
TelegraphAmnesty International has appealed to the state to commute the sentence on Khristian Oliver, 32, who is due to die on November 5.
He was sentenced to death in 1999 for murdering a man whose home Oliver was burgling. The victim was shot in the face and beaten with his own rifle.
It later emerged that while deciding whether he should be given the death penalty, jurors consulted the Bible. Four jury members admitted that several copies had been in the jury room and that highlighted passages were passed around.
At one point, a juror reportedly read aloud from a copy, including the passage: "And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death."
Defence lawyers argued in appeals that jurors had been improperly influenced by the Bibles but the trial judge rejected the claim, a decision upheld by a Texas appeals court.
That's the face of the GOP in TX, and why Perry may indeed out live executing a innocent (allegedly) man..
Bible- s all seem to be stuck in the OT. They love the vengeful, angry, smite-ing God, matches up the losers' own hate and vengeance.
Did the jury ever make it into the NT and ask "What would Jesus (who?) do?" Nah, Jesus wan an ever-loving wimp. They want blood and guts and killing (arson)fire and brimstone.
you know, sorta like Muslims.
I'm all for executions, but seeing cases like this make me think that it should only be used in cases where it's a 100% certainty the defendant is guilty.
"100% certainty"
too many prosecutors, cops, judges, forensic labs are corrupt and/or incompetent to achieve ever 100% certainty.
The Problem is, DAs don't advance politically without some death penalty convictions on their resume. If they can't find legit ones, they'll manufacture them, like this stupid case.
DA's advance politically as long as they keep their win % over 95 (pulling that outta my ass, but I know their pissing contest is win %). The sooner stupid ass voters realize that the higher a DA's win %, the crappier of a DA it is, the better.
That much is true in all states, but in states with the DP, you need some DPC notches in your belt, or you're considered "soft on crime".
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