CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

Texas Forensic Science Commission Concludes Flawed Science Used In Trial That Led To Conviction and Execution

By: Houston Criminal Attorney John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

It was December 1991 in Corsicana, Texas. Cameron Todd Willingham was alone in his residence with his three small children—Amber 2, and one-year-old twins, Karmon and Kameron. A fire broke out in the residence. Willingham managed to escape the fire. The three children did not, dying a horrible death trapped in the flames that quickly engulfed the residence. Willingham was immediately targeted as a suspect for arson murder. He was indicted on January 8, 1992. After turning down an opportunity to plead guilty for a life sentence, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in August 1992. He was executed on February 17, 2004, angrily telling all those present that he was an innocent man. The political and media fallout from Willingham’s execution began before his remains were laid to rest. The case’s controversial history can be found on Billy Sinclair’s blog here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. But essentially Willingham was convicted and executed because state officials involved in the case—and with a lot of help from the condemned inmate himself—successfully portrayed him as a “monster” throughout the trial and execution process. The basis for this portrait was:

• According to neighbors who witnessed the fire at the Willingham residence, he “crouched down” in his front yard and refused to make any effort to rescue his children from the fire despite repeated pleas by neighbors for him to do so. These statements, of course, influenced arson investigators at the scene of the fire to conclude Willingham must have had something to do with the fire.
• When the fire blew out the windows of the house, Willingham reported hollered out concern about his car which was parked close to the residence. Witnesses said he jumped up, ran toward it, and moved it away from the house so it would not be damaged by the fire.
• Willingham did not express any grief over the loss of his children at the fire scene or at the hospital after the fire.
• Willingham reportedly expressed upset to firefighters at the scene that his dart board had been lost in the fire.
• The morning after the fire, which was Christmas Eve, Willingham and his wife went to their burnt out house and were seen by neighbors laughing as they pored through the debris with loud music blaring from their nearby vehicle.
• A neighbor testified that Willingham had once beaten his pregnant wife in an effort to induce an abortion, but his wife testified at the trial and disputed the neighbor’s claim by saying Willingham had never beaten her, much less when she was pregnant.
• Another witness said he once saw Willingham slap his wife, but Willingham’s wife denied the incident ever happened.
• Willingham reportedly bragged to a friend that he once brutally killed a dog.
• Willingham reportedly told a “jailhouse snitch” that he killed his children to cover up evidence of abuse. Willingham’s wife, however, testified that her husband never abused the children.
• Dr. James Grigson, a prosecution “expert,” testified at Willingham’s trial, telling the jury that Willingham was a violent sociopath who did not have a conscience and had no regard for other people’s property or for other human beings (even though there was nothing in Willingham’s criminal history to support this violent assessment).
• In April 1986 Willingham was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon and public intoxication. He was sentenced to four days in the county jail, and ordered to pay a fine and court costs.
• In May 1986 Willingham was arrested for second degree burglary. He was placed on probation and assigned to a Non-Violent Intermediate Offender Act.
• In May 1986 Willingham was again arrested: this time for entering a building with unlawful intent and contributing to the delinquency of a minor (supplying paint to a 12-year-old to sniff). He was sentenced to 15 days in the county jail, ordered to pay restitution, and placed on probation for six months.
• In November 1986 Willingham was arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor (supplying paint to a 12-year-old and an 11-year-old to sniff). He was sentenced to 60 days in the county jail.
• In April 1987 Willingham was arrested for grand larceny. He was sentenced to 60 days in the county jail and placed on two years probation.
• In November 1988 Willingham was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs (sniffing paint). He was sentenced to one year probation on the condition that he would check into an in-patient rehabilitation program for paint abuse.
• In February 1989 Willingham was arrested for shoplifting. His probations for the previous 1987 grand larceny and 1988 DUI convictions were revoked and he was placed in a special boot camp program, given a 2-year sentence with all but 74 days suspended on the conditions that 1) he complete a substance abuse program, 2) attend AA once a week, and 3) undergo urinalysis every week and a half.

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