Arson Reviewers Expect Small Number of Problem Cases
At the height of the controversy surrounding the fire investigation that led to the arson murder conviction and death sentence of Cameron Todd Willingham, Dr. Gerald Hurst, one of the country's pre-eminent fire investigators, told a reporter for ABC News, "The Willingham case is like a hundred other cases I've seen, except that they executed him. The others are rotting away in prison."
But attorneys with the Innocence Project of Texas, who have been conducting a massive review of arson convictions in Texas, told the Texas Forensic Science Commission at its meeting Friday that the number of cases ...
Comments (5)
Johnny Hughes via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Y'all have one hell of a publication!
Casey Bennett via Texas Tribune on Facebook
As vague as the 'expert' was with his remark about "100 other cases",,,,so are the numbers of the Innocence Project as reported. Were the thousand that they looked at nationwide, or specifically Texas? Were the 33 picked, from Texas only or Nationwide?? If someone is going to try and discredit an expert,,,at least they should be more specific when they release their reports to the press.
Dudley Sharp
It is important to note:
Gerald Hurst states:
“I never had a case where I could exclude arson,” “It’s not possible to do that.”(1)
Of course, that includes the Willingham case.
(1) "Family’s Effort to Clear Name Frames Debate on Executions", John Schwartz, New York Times, October 14, 2010,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/us/15execution.html?_r=1
Dudley Sharp
The fact that the numbers are quite small and may get even smaller, upon state review, goes to show that the state's standards were, obviously, much higher and better than they were portrayed in the media and by the standard deceptions of anti death penalty folks.
JC DemocratofTejas
...and yet, not a clue nor an attempt to discover who burned down the capitol. I gotz my ideas. RP!