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Ripped from the headlines: Crime show popularizes Willingham lookalike case

Michael Hall from Texas Monthly emails to say:Several people have told me about last night's episode of Law and Order SVU, which features an arson case that is almost a note for note copy of the Willingham case. Here is a video that shows the highlights--including the long-haired arson expert who helps turn things around--AKA Gerald Hurst, Rollingwood's own. And check how the fighting young ADA (Sharon Stone!) fights for truth and justice when she finds the error of the prosecution's ways.If it really were prosecutors ferreting out problems with arson science in the Willingham case instead of stalling investigations into flawed science, I'd feel less conflicted about this portrayal. In real life, of course, it would be a defense attorney finding and presenting that expert, which the courts and the Governor would then ignore before sending the defendant to his death...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on April 29, 2010 (boomark / email).