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Chicago Tribune: Texas hires arson expert to study fatal 1991 fire for which Cameron Todd Willingham was executed

By "Persian Cowboy"

Steve Mills of the Chicago Tribune is reporting that the state of Texas is hiring a Maryland arson expert to examine the evidence in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham.In 2004, four fire experts told the Chicago Tribune that the fire that had sent Cameron Todd Willingham to Death Row and later to his execution in Texas might have been an accident rather than a crime.Nearly two years later, a panel of four other experts who reviewed the case for the Innocence Project came to a similar conclusion, saying the State of Texas had convicted and executed Willingham based on forensic evidence that no longer was considered scientifically valid.Now what may be the final verdict on the fire, and on Willingham's execution, will be delivered by a Maryland expert, who will examine the evidence in the first state-sanctioned inquiry into a Texas execution...continue to full post

Full post as published by Texas Death Penalty Blog on January 26, 2009 (boomark / email).