COMMENTS: 30
The Execution of a Potentially Innocent Man Less Scandalous Than an Affair?
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It's lucky for Gov. Rick Perry of Texas that he's not suspected of doing something truly shocking, like having an affair. Instead, it merely seems that he's helped cover up a homicide. Apparently that's not enough to make much of a national splash.
Last month, The New Yorker published a remarkable piece by David Grann about the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 for a crime that all the evidence suggests he didn't commit. In 1991, Willingham's house caught on fire, burning his three daughters to death. Ill-trained investigators accused Willingham of arson. At his trial, a family therapist who had never met Willingham was called as an expert witness and suggested that Willingham's heavy metal posters indicated that he might be a satanist.
Because Willingham couldn't afford decent representation, it was many years before a friend of his managed to get qualified experts to take a look at the case. Grann described the investigation conducted by Gerald Hurst, one of the country's most acclaimed fire investigators: "Hurst concluded that there was no evidence of arson, and that a man who had already lost his three children and spent twelve years in jail was about to be executed based on 'junk science.'" If Perry read the report, which was submitted just weeks before Willingham was executed, he didn't act on it, refusing to grant a stay of execution.
Grann wasn't the first to probe the Willingham case. Ten months after Willingham was put to death, The Chicago Tribune published an important investigation by Steve Mills and Maurice Possley. Willingham, they wrote, "was prosecuted and convicted based primarily on arson theories that have since been repudiated by scientific advances. According to four fire experts consulted by the Tribune, the original investigation was flawed and it is even possible the fire was accidental."
In 2005, the Texas Legislature established a nine-member Forensic Science Commission, which immediately started looking into Willingham's case, as well as the case of Ernest Ray Willis. Willis had also been sentenced to death in an arson case that Grann described as "freakishly similar" to Willingham's, but thanks largely to a good pro-bono attorney, he was set free after 17 years in prison. The Forensic Science Commission voted unanimously to hire Craig Beyler, another well-known arson expert, to write a report. Beyler submitted it in August, and it was a profoundly damning document.
The approach of Manuel Vasquez, the state deputy fire marshal in Willingham's case, was "hardly consistent with a scientific mindset and is more characteristic of mystics or psychics," Beyler wrote. In both the Willingham and the Willis case, the "investigators had poor understandings of fire science and failed to acknowledge or apply the contemporaneous understanding of the limitations of fire indicators. Their methodologies did not comport with the scientific method or the process of elimination."
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Posted by: koolwoman on Nov 4, 2009 1:17 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» KINKY FRIEDMAN FOR GUBNER!!!!
Posted by: moloko velocet
» Texas Governor's Race
Posted by: moloko velocet
» RE: ick Perry
Posted by: Indyman
» RE: ick Perry
Posted by: Yvette0161
» Totally Corrupt Texas
Posted by: billslm
Comments are closed-
Posted by: timenotonmyside on Nov 4, 2009 2:23 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
look where it got us as a country, sitting pretty in TWO WARS, with no economy to sustain the american dream, but the top 1% keep getting richer
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» RE: what do you expect
Posted by: robalb
» Wait are you blaming Iraq on Texas?
Posted by: puf_almighty
» RE: what do you expect
Posted by: shd1230
Comments are closed-
Posted by: JohnTruth2001 on Nov 4, 2009 3:58 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Get gov't out of the murder business both here at home & these goddamn continuing wars!!!
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» RE: They murdered a million innocent Iraqis; what's one more life?
Posted by: kettleblack
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Posted by: leafsong1 on Nov 4, 2009 5:45 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: AMERICAN VETERAN on Nov 4, 2009 8:10 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
AMY BROWN'S PORTRAIT
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Posted by: darkmark on Nov 4, 2009 7:29 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: Spiritgirl on Nov 4, 2009 8:07 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Puhlease, you expect rational - from the state that produce George W. Bush, a man that has failed at EVERYTHING he's "tried"! Come on, these ARE the creationist people, they're not "like" they are! They believe in the Judge Roy (hang'em high) Bean theory, hang first, and keep it moving!
Logical, rational thought is anathema that those people don't use! I realize that in the 21st century, we'd like to believe that everyone is rational, logical, and has some measure of "common sense", but stop that thought when it comes to Texas. Can you say dumbed down? Because Texas had to be the state that started it all, yes, a juicy affair outweighs a state sanctioned murder no matter how innocent the man was!
The sad part is many years ago the writer Molly Ivins said that something like this would happen, because Texans were stupid, how prescient she was, and I'm sure she'd be sad to know that! Hey TEXANS how about FIRING that idiot Gov. Perry?!
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» RE: It's Texas, you expect rational?!?!?!?
Posted by: richholland
» RE: It's Texas, you expect rational?!?!?!?
Posted by: moloko velocet
» What the fuck do you know about Texas?
Posted by: puf_almighty
Comments are closed-
Posted by: cosmic.J on Nov 4, 2009 8:30 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: The Rule of Law!
Posted by: nikolai
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Posted by: vasumurti on Nov 4, 2009 12:27 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Moreover, the death penalty does not deter violent crime:
"Most people who murder do not see beyond their action; they kill quickly in moments of great fear or emotional stress and under the influence of drugs or alcohol. When the crime is premeditated, the individual rarely believes he or she will be apprehended or executed…in 1976, the United States Supreme Court found no conclusive evidence that the death penalty deters violent crime. The United Nations came to similar conclusions."
According to Amnesty International USA, capital punishment tends to discriminate against minorities and the poor. In the United States since 1972, over 65 percent of the people on death row have been unskilled, service, or domestic workers, while 60 percent were unemployed at the time of their crimes.
"In the United States," reports Amnesty International USA, "blacks and other minorities face a much greater likelihood of execution than whites similarly charged...The victim’s race still factors heavily in determining the offender’s punishment. In Texas, blacks who kill whites are six times more likely to receive the death sentence than those with black victims. In Florida, black offenders who murder whites are forty times more likely than whites who kill blacks to end up on death row."
Responding to the concept of "an eye for an eye," Amnesty International USA asks, "If capital punishment is appropriate because it takes a life for a life, why doesn’t the government also burn the arsonist’s home and rape the rapist? Because justice does not mean punishment that imitates the crime." Amnesty International USA states further that the death penalty costs more than life imprisonment.
United States Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall once observed: "The death penalty is no more effective a deterrent than life imprisonment… While police and law enforcement officials are the strongest advocates of capital punishment, the evidence is overwhelming that police are no safer in communities that retain the sanction than in those that have abolished it. It also is evident that the burden of capital punishment falls upon the poor, the ignorant, and the underprivileged members of society."
United States Supreme Court Justice William Brennan once argued against capital punishment, saying, "The calculated killing of a human being involves, by its very nature, an absolute denial of the executed person's humanity."
Justice Brennan claimed the 8th Amendment bans "cruel and unusual punishment." Yet the 5th Amendment refers to "capital or otherwise infamous crime" and says no person "shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law."
This clearly implies that persons can be deprived of their right to life, but only under due process of law. Capital punishment, therefore, is constitutional, and, ultimately, the only way death penalty opponents can correct this apparent injustice is through a Constitutional Amendment.
Attacking capital punishment, the early church father Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, wrote: "Christians are not allowed to kill, it is not permitted for the guiltless to put even the guilty to death."
Religious leaders throughout the world have taken a stand against capital punishment. Leading Jewish organizations, Protestant denominations, and the United States Catholic Bishops Conference all oppose the death penalty.
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» RE: capital punishment
Posted by: richholland
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Posted by: JTatSFA on Nov 4, 2009 12:53 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: Proud Texans
Posted by: Ian MacLeod
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Posted by: bettyn on Nov 4, 2009 3:51 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» What do you know about Texas?
Posted by: puf_almighty
» RE: Why is this state still in the Union?
Posted by: Ian MacLeod
Comments are closed-
Posted by: richholland on Nov 5, 2009 1:21 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Do you realise the execution of a person costs $ 1.000.000.???
Only perverts love it to see the execution, my advice have good sex.
And condem murderers to a diet of hamburgers and cola and Fox News.
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Posted by: whealeydj on Nov 7, 2009 10:45 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Comments are closed-
Posted by: koolwoman on Nov 4, 2009 1:17 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» KINKY FRIEDMAN FOR GUBNER!!!!
Posted by: moloko velocet
» Texas Governor's Race
Posted by: moloko velocet
» RE: ick Perry
Posted by: Indyman
» RE: ick Perry
Posted by: Yvette0161
» Totally Corrupt Texas
Posted by: billslm
Comments are closed-
Posted by: timenotonmyside on Nov 4, 2009 2:23 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
look where it got us as a country, sitting pretty in TWO WARS, with no economy to sustain the american dream, but the top 1% keep getting richer
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: what do you expect
Posted by: robalb
» Wait are you blaming Iraq on Texas?
Posted by: puf_almighty
» RE: what do you expect
Posted by: shd1230
Comments are closed-
Posted by: JohnTruth2001 on Nov 4, 2009 3:58 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Get gov't out of the murder business both here at home & these goddamn continuing wars!!!
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: They murdered a million innocent Iraqis; what's one more life?
Posted by: kettleblack
Comments are closed-
Posted by: leafsong1 on Nov 4, 2009 5:45 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Comments are closed-
Posted by: AMERICAN VETERAN on Nov 4, 2009 8:10 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
AMY BROWN'S PORTRAIT
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Comments are closed-
Posted by: darkmark on Nov 4, 2009 7:29 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Comments are closed-
Posted by: Spiritgirl on Nov 4, 2009 8:07 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Puhlease, you expect rational - from the state that produce George W. Bush, a man that has failed at EVERYTHING he's "tried"! Come on, these ARE the creationist people, they're not "like" they are! They believe in the Judge Roy (hang'em high) Bean theory, hang first, and keep it moving!
Logical, rational thought is anathema that those people don't use! I realize that in the 21st century, we'd like to believe that everyone is rational, logical, and has some measure of "common sense", but stop that thought when it comes to Texas. Can you say dumbed down? Because Texas had to be the state that started it all, yes, a juicy affair outweighs a state sanctioned murder no matter how innocent the man was!
The sad part is many years ago the writer Molly Ivins said that something like this would happen, because Texans were stupid, how prescient she was, and I'm sure she'd be sad to know that! Hey TEXANS how about FIRING that idiot Gov. Perry?!
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: It's Texas, you expect rational?!?!?!?
Posted by: richholland
» RE: It's Texas, you expect rational?!?!?!?
Posted by: moloko velocet
» What the fuck do you know about Texas?
Posted by: puf_almighty
Comments are closed-
Posted by: cosmic.J on Nov 4, 2009 8:30 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: The Rule of Law!
Posted by: nikolai
Comments are closed-
Posted by: vasumurti on Nov 4, 2009 12:27 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Moreover, the death penalty does not deter violent crime:
"Most people who murder do not see beyond their action; they kill quickly in moments of great fear or emotional stress and under the influence of drugs or alcohol. When the crime is premeditated, the individual rarely believes he or she will be apprehended or executed…in 1976, the United States Supreme Court found no conclusive evidence that the death penalty deters violent crime. The United Nations came to similar conclusions."
According to Amnesty International USA, capital punishment tends to discriminate against minorities and the poor. In the United States since 1972, over 65 percent of the people on death row have been unskilled, service, or domestic workers, while 60 percent were unemployed at the time of their crimes.
"In the United States," reports Amnesty International USA, "blacks and other minorities face a much greater likelihood of execution than whites similarly charged...The victim’s race still factors heavily in determining the offender’s punishment. In Texas, blacks who kill whites are six times more likely to receive the death sentence than those with black victims. In Florida, black offenders who murder whites are forty times more likely than whites who kill blacks to end up on death row."
Responding to the concept of "an eye for an eye," Amnesty International USA asks, "If capital punishment is appropriate because it takes a life for a life, why doesn’t the government also burn the arsonist’s home and rape the rapist? Because justice does not mean punishment that imitates the crime." Amnesty International USA states further that the death penalty costs more than life imprisonment.
United States Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall once observed: "The death penalty is no more effective a deterrent than life imprisonment… While police and law enforcement officials are the strongest advocates of capital punishment, the evidence is overwhelming that police are no safer in communities that retain the sanction than in those that have abolished it. It also is evident that the burden of capital punishment falls upon the poor, the ignorant, and the underprivileged members of society."
United States Supreme Court Justice William Brennan once argued against capital punishment, saying, "The calculated killing of a human being involves, by its very nature, an absolute denial of the executed person's humanity."
Justice Brennan claimed the 8th Amendment bans "cruel and unusual punishment." Yet the 5th Amendment refers to "capital or otherwise infamous crime" and says no person "shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law."
This clearly implies that persons can be deprived of their right to life, but only under due process of law. Capital punishment, therefore, is constitutional, and, ultimately, the only way death penalty opponents can correct this apparent injustice is through a Constitutional Amendment.
Attacking capital punishment, the early church father Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, wrote: "Christians are not allowed to kill, it is not permitted for the guiltless to put even the guilty to death."
Religious leaders throughout the world have taken a stand against capital punishment. Leading Jewish organizations, Protestant denominations, and the United States Catholic Bishops Conference all oppose the death penalty.
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: capital punishment
Posted by: richholland
Comments are closed-
Posted by: JTatSFA on Nov 4, 2009 12:53 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: Proud Texans
Posted by: Ian MacLeod
Comments are closed-
Posted by: bettyn on Nov 4, 2009 3:51 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» What do you know about Texas?
Posted by: puf_almighty
» RE: Why is this state still in the Union?
Posted by: Ian MacLeod
Comments are closed-
Posted by: richholland on Nov 5, 2009 1:21 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Do you realise the execution of a person costs $ 1.000.000.???
Only perverts love it to see the execution, my advice have good sex.
And condem murderers to a diet of hamburgers and cola and Fox News.
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
Comments are closed-
Posted by: whealeydj on Nov 7, 2009 10:45 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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