Cameron Todd Willingham Wrongfully Executed
In my article How Many Wrongly Convicted Have Been Executed Since 1977?, I promised to post a detailed article for each of the poor souls who were wrongfully executed. Today we will cover Cameron Todd Willingham who was executed in Texas in 2004 despite evidence showing that he did not set a fire that killed his three young daughters.
The blogger at The Skeptical Juror has a revealing analysis on how the fire marshals got it all wrong in his article Mythbusters Exonerate Cameron Todd Willingham. The very sad part of this is that Governor Rick Perry, a piece of shit Texas politician, when he was informed in 2004 by an expert that the state's fire investigators were wrong, refused to grant a stay of execution because he feared that further studies would exonerate Willingham; the one thing that Texas politicians cannot stand is the disclosure that their state convicts (or executes) innocent people.
And execute an innocent man is precisely what Texas did and piece of shit Rick Perry allowed.
Willingham always maintained his innocence and so refused an offer to plead guilty in return for a life sentence. Since his execution in 2004, further evidence in his case has shown that he should have been acquitted at trial. The arson experts were completely wrong, the jailhouse snitch duly received a reduced sentence, the witnesses who at first supported Willingham changed their stories after police informed them that he most likely murdered his children, that is, behavior that seemed normal for a parent who is grieving for his children appears to be abnormal when police fill one's head with doubt and confusion.
I have previously reported on the fact that more than 75% of eyewitness identification is wrong, but in this case it is not the identification that is inaccurate but the witnesses' memory or perception of what actually happened. Studies have shown that witnesses' memories of events often change when they are given new information, not unlike what happens when corrupt psychologists plant false memories of child abuse into their patients.
In the hour that Willingham was executed Hell made a special place in its deepest and foulest recesses for an evil and damned soul. I hope Rick Perry enjoys his stay there.
