Cameron Todd Willingham was executed under Rick Perry's watch. What makes Mr. Willingham important is that he was almost certainly innocent. His case was described in great detail in a 17 page New Yorker article.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann?currentPage=all
Not only was Willingham innocent, but Rick Perry knew he was probably innocent before he authorized the execution. Even more damning Perry covered up his deadly mistake by pulling the plug on the commission investigating Willingham's execution two days before the commission was to here the most damning testimony.
The basic facts are ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/02/cameron-todd-willingham-execution-rick-perry_n_946654.html ):
Cameron Todd Willingham was convicted in August 1992 for the murder of his three young children in a fire that was deemed an arson by investigators. While on death row, a frantic effort to prove his innocence resulted in a full report which questioned the scientific legitimacy of the evidence used to convict Willingham. That report made its way to Gov. Perry's office ahead of the zero hour, but it was all for nought -- no stay of execution was granted in order to consider the new findings.
Willingham was executed by lethal injection on Feb. 17, 2004. Yet the efforts to exonerate Willingham only intensified, and in 2005, the Texas Forensic Science Commission decided to re-examine the case. The commission hired a nationally known fire scientist, Craig Beyler, to evaluate the evidence, and in his report, he came down on the same side as the scientists who had evaluated the case prior to Willingham's execution: there was no credible scientific basis for the conclusion that arson had been committed.
Beyler was eventually scheduled to testify before the commission on Oct. 2, 2009. Two days before Beyler's appearance, however, Rick Perry put a stop to it.
[this thread title has earned the poster warning.--mod.]
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann?currentPage=all
Not only was Willingham innocent, but Rick Perry knew he was probably innocent before he authorized the execution. Even more damning Perry covered up his deadly mistake by pulling the plug on the commission investigating Willingham's execution two days before the commission was to here the most damning testimony.
The basic facts are ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/02/cameron-todd-willingham-execution-rick-perry_n_946654.html ):
Cameron Todd Willingham was convicted in August 1992 for the murder of his three young children in a fire that was deemed an arson by investigators. While on death row, a frantic effort to prove his innocence resulted in a full report which questioned the scientific legitimacy of the evidence used to convict Willingham. That report made its way to Gov. Perry's office ahead of the zero hour, but it was all for nought -- no stay of execution was granted in order to consider the new findings.
Willingham was executed by lethal injection on Feb. 17, 2004. Yet the efforts to exonerate Willingham only intensified, and in 2005, the Texas Forensic Science Commission decided to re-examine the case. The commission hired a nationally known fire scientist, Craig Beyler, to evaluate the evidence, and in his report, he came down on the same side as the scientists who had evaluated the case prior to Willingham's execution: there was no credible scientific basis for the conclusion that arson had been committed.
Beyler was eventually scheduled to testify before the commission on Oct. 2, 2009. Two days before Beyler's appearance, however, Rick Perry put a stop to it.
[this thread title has earned the poster warning.--mod.]
