The Willingham innocence case is back in the news yet again.
Eighty-eight minutes before Tod Willingham was executed in 1994, Texas Governor Rick Perry was faxed a report by a respected arson expert suggesting that Willingham might be innocent. Perry either ignored or did not read the report and Willingham was put to death anyway.
Now, a decade and a half later, Governor Perry is up for reelection in a tightly contested primary race. And so, likely fearing some belated political blow-back, Perry seems to be doing all he can to bury any and all mention of Cameron Tod Willingham, his execution, and his extremely inconvenient possible innocence.
For instance, last week, Perry refused to release the documentation showing whether he or his staff ever looked at that arson report that pleaded for a stay of execution for Willingham.
At the end of September, Perry tossed out the head of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which had gained his ire by by hiring an arson expert to look at the Cameron Todd Willingham case.
Yesterday, the ousted head of the commission went public with how pressured he had been by the governor’s lawyers and others to stop the Willingham investigation.
Now, as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram puts it, Perry’s hatchet has fallen again on the Commission:
The governor has now replaced all four of his appointees, including the chairman, to the nine-member Texas Forensic Science Commission. His actions came as the commission was investigating its highest-profile case, involving the possibility that an innocent man was executed in 2004.
Because of the reshuffling of members, an Oct. 2 meeting of the commission, at which it planned to hear from an arson expert, was indefinitely postponed.
The out-of-state expert had prepared a report that said the forensic evidence in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, accused of murdering his three daughters in a fire, was faulty and that the blaze that killed the children was not a result of arson.
Just two days before the scheduled meeting, the governor began his purge, informing three members that their services were no longer needed. Last week he dismissed his fourth appointee, leaving many to wonder if his sudden moves were politically motivated because he had signed off on the Willingham execution five years ago — and he has a tough primary race coming up in March.
Newspapers like the Dallas Morning News have told Perry to back off.
The report on CNN’s 360 with Anderson Cooper embedded above is also scathing.
There will be more developments, I’m sure.
Come on Celeste, at least say something about the supposed expert. I went back and read all the material I could find on this and think the guy did it. That reading included the threads here dedicated to it.
That being said for the LA Times to not mention, at least not in what I read, the problems with past testimony by Beyler shows they want to hide all the facts that need to be heard to promote there as usual agenda.
More info on this at the Chicago Tribune.
Oh, and the notoriously radical liberal Charles Johnson has also posted on Governor Perry and the cover-up allegations.
To adhere to the new liberal standards of this blog, here’s what I see.
Perry “either ignored or did not read the report.” There is no way that he considered the report and discounted it as flawed or immaterial. Therefore, Gov. Perry must be a murderer!!!
The court system in Texas loves to execute innocent people and servants of the courts have been known to drag black men in chains from behind the judges’ pick-up trucks!
There’s no way that anyone on death row is guilty. Plus, those redneck Texas juries like to convict innocent people because they get kicks out of frequent executions. In their Neanderthal minds, those executions set an example to deter crimes by others. How stupid can they be?!
And, people convicted of murder in Texas by a jury of their peers (yeah, right!), all of whom who are in prison unjustly and whose innocence could be proven if only given years and years and with last-mintue pleas of “newly found” information, should be given a “do-over trial” in the press and without cross-examination. In that trial, the press, especially “60-Minutes,” should be the only source for evidence, Anderson Cooper would serve as the judge, and Celeste and friends could comprise the jury. Anderson Cooper is a fair, middle-of-the-road jounalist and every thing that he says and implies must be true.
Remember, it’s not the entirity of the evidence to be considered but it’s who submits the last piece of evidence – sort of like whichever team scores last in a football game wins. Wait! No football references. It’s stupid and offensive. F*** football!
Oh, and after the election, we can drop the whole issue, as the only purpose is to defeat a Repubican governor — right? That’s what Austin Democrat D.A. Ronnie Earle did for years with his political indictments of Tom Delay and Kay Bailey Hutchison, among others. We learned a lot from him, so let’s use it.
Remember, it’s not how you play the game but whether we win or lose! Liberalism is best because it doesn’t get limited by God, since liberals know He doesn’t exist, so anything goes!
We’ll get that Texas Governor out and hurt him good! Then, we can do what we want with the state, like give it back to Mexico!
(How did I do? Do I meet the new standards of this blog for liberalism? If not, I can do better if given a second, third, and fourth chance like criminals deserve.)
No one has refuted Hurst’s findings. No one.
Read the New Yorker article, people, and see if you can honestly say that there isn’t a shred of doubt in your mind.
Randy: No one has refuted Hurst’s findings. No one.
That’s why we have courts and trials, to allow examination and cross-examination of evidence and testimony. Taking up for Hurst is like saying the referee missed a call after the game is over and no one cares. Oh, wait. No football analogies. “F*** football!”
But, I CARE, because I have to show my sensitive side now.
In fact, every anti-American, I mean pro-American, left-wing backed “alleged” criminal from the Rosenbergs to Bill Ayers to the Black Panthers to Muslim terrorists have been really innocent, because their crimes were for humanity or prosecuted by a country whose founding fathers did worse.
Oh, can you believe what Ann Coulter wrote about liberal spies and convicts? Godless: The Church of Liberalism
Who is Ann Coulter to accuse somone? She’s evil, even more evil than Saddam Hussein…and, Hitler!
(I think I’m getting the hang of this liberal commenting. Surely, Celeste will never delete these comments. I might even win a scholarship to Bennington College!)
An exercise in incoherence.
OT and old news (via Kevin Drum), but this article seems of general interest to the blog:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/07/AR2007070701073_pf.html
I’ve never heard about the links between lead exposure and crime before and it strikes me as a little wacky but if it’s the true the ramifications would be very significant.
Mavis, the lead-crime relationship is likely a lower income housing-crime relationship. A good while back, houses were painted with lead paint, and people with lower incomes tend to concentrate in the older areas, where those houses are obviously located. Therefore, it may only prove that poor people, who are more likely to commit crimes, grew up in old, inner-city housing that happened to use lead paint.
In any event, I’m sure that there are plenty of reasons outside of personal responsibility that can be used to justify why people turn to crime. Ultimately, it’s the fault of society and capitalism.
Once, when I was young, I tried to siphon leaded gas into a lawnmower and ended up a lot in me, and I used to play with mercury. Still, as you can see, I turned out to be perfectly normal.
Okay, back to that murdering Texas governor and the innocent man that he ignored.
Woody Says:
October 14th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Once, when I was young, I tried to siphon leaded gas into a lawnmower and ended up a lot in me, and I used to play with mercury. Still, as you can see, I turned out to be perfectly normal.
Woody, Rush Limbaugh got dropped from the group looking to buy the St. Louis Rams.
NFL = No F’n Limbaugh.
Ha!
I wouldn’t turn down Limbaugh’s money.
The study is far more complex than that. Like I said, it strikes me as pretty far fetched, but it’s not simply correlating poverty and crime. Read the article.
I like black people.
Woody, do you think anyone in here is convinced that you have the balls to talk to black people in real life the way you talk about them in here? You’re probably the nicest person in the world to black people. You probably hold doors open for them. You probably try harder to make friends with the black guy at the office more than anyone else. You’re probably the biggest, self loathing, reverse racist whitey kiss ass amongst your peers. That’s what I envision. Then when you realize black people still don’t like you, because you’re just annoying, you come in here and take it out on them. But go ahead, keep trying to pass yourself off as a no nonsense, John Wayne type who talks to blacks in real life the way you talk to blacks on the internet. It’s hilarious.
Woody, you wouldn’t turn down anyone’s money, because you’re a whore. Despite your low opinion of black people, on the other hand, there were enough black NFL players willing to protest Limbaugh to scare his partners into dumping him from their group.
I like black bears.
“The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do. From God’s dust I came and to dust I will return so the Earth shall become my throne. I gotta go, Road Dog.” He expressed love to someone named Gabby and then addressed his ex-wife, Stacy Kuykendall, who was watching about 8 feet away through a window and said several times, “I hope you rot in Hell, bitch.” He then attempted to maneuver his hand, strapped at the wrist, into an obscene gesture. His former wife showed no reaction to the outburst.
************************************************************
You know, if a fire ignited in my house – my children will surely live because I will die before they ever get touch by a hot flame.
A reaction of a father is to jump back in that house and save the only thing you have left in life – your children. C. T. Willingham deserved to die for being a big pussy.
The Texas Gavcahos are just like the WestSide gavachos who want to make villans of the L.A. Eastside residents.
It’s very simple to envision and locate the LA Eastside, hundreds of thousands of people for generations have done so, despite being quasi-invisible and denigrated by other citizens from West of the Eastside as Mexican gangsters, illegal aliens, and uncultured heathens to be feared and avoided except as a pool for cheap labor or easy marks when their homes and land were needed for some forced urban renewal public works project like freeway building or gov’t building projects.
I like the black bears article.
Woody, there have been a number of people in our regular commenting community here who have frequently gone way too far over the line in commenting. You happened to be the person who blew through the fence twice on the day when I reached my limit.
Ms. Fremon,
The LAWeekly’s article on the Avenues gang and killing of Abel Escalante was really well done. Why haven’t you commented on the Avenues gang sweep. We dont care about the part where they bring up Homeboy Industry in the indictment- a majority of these hard core gangsters always getaway here and there by using programs like Father – Gs for their gang’s conniving bullshit.
Its not the first time and will not be the last they’ve done this.
Then, you have the really sad killing of a little baby by Blythe Street gang members. The idiot little brother who promptly barked back at the gangsters stating, “Barrio Van Nuys”.
Aside from the city’s new added gang injunction on Barrio Van Nuys, Blythe street was one of the first gangs to have a city gang injunction – a place where even the Guardian Angels were ran out of their neighborhood.
Poplockerone,
Christine did indeed do an excellent job reporting about the sweep and about solving the murder of Abel Escalante. She generally has been on top of the Avenues stories.
The reason I haven’t commented is that I haven’t found that I really have anything in particular to add to the dialogue. The sweep was a product of good police work. (Didn’t you ask about this before? Or am I dreaming?)
About that wiretap conversation, that guy doing the conniving on the phone wasn’t working at Homeboy. (Although he likely did ask Father Greg for a letter of support.) But another guy picked up in the sweep was working there. As you said, it happens.
I just had a conversation with someone tonight about the sweep. And I read a lot of the indictment trying to find a social justice angle. But I think it just is what it is: A righteous series of busts. Yet, I like the way Christine takes us step by step through the sequence of events.
It is still such a terrible heartbreaker about Deputy Escalante. Makes me sick.
poplocker one, have any proof that gang members are using Father G to get away with gang activity? Or are you just making shit up, like when you said that your fictional homies from Lynwood or Paramount, whatever, said that Luis Rodriguez was a fraud? Until you come up with some proof, homeboy, YOU’RE the fraud.
LOL. Good police work. You’re losing your marbles, Celeste. You must be hoping to get on with the LA Times. There’s no such thing as good police work. Maybe when an officer just sees some shit going down and stops it, sure. But tha’ts kind of their job. A gang sweep? Why now? Does the timing of this ever cross your mind? They have enough evidence compiled to do a gang sweep on any given gang in any given neighborhood, any given time. They could have swept up the Aves before they killed that kid. They can sweep up every gang, right now. First off, there’s not enough room in the jails. That’s one reason. So they pick and choose when and who based upon political expediency. Bratton wanted to take one last crack at LA’s most noted black killers before making his next career move. He’s not exactly moving to Mississippi, after all.
OK – you sound like a Jr. High School snot nosed kid. BTW- I never mentioned Paramount. Get your facts straight.
BTW, Drew street’s a shit hole again. They kept it nice just long enough for Sam Quinones to do his piece where he rides a skateboard down the hill and says that kids can finally play in peace, again. What a fucking moron.
You know, pop dancer, junior high kids make a lot of shit up, too, like you did about Luis Rodriguez. I said paramount or Lynwood. I was guessing. I forgot what city you used to make up your story. Rodriguez is an accomplished writer, artist, and gang counselor. You’re nobody. That means you have to have proof of your claim that some homies said he was a fraud. Got to kill a king with one shot, Ozone. Now go poplock to your next tall tale.
One thing that I can honestly tell you – I dont lie.
When I was a kid, I crossed paths with Luis Rodriguez – he was sniffing paint under a street bridge of the 710 FWY, sitting on graffiti covered concrete pavement, drooling saliva from his freckled face painted mouth within the LA Riverbed. As I rode my bike passed him, I remember vividly thinking that it was a very cloudy day and not really thinking anything special about the idiot cholo professional paint sniffers. The only reason I took noticed was because my reject cousin from Colonia Watts was sitting there, not to far from him – doing the same old bullshit. I just shook my head in disbelief and ignored all of them – again, just cholos acting like pendejos.
My compadre’s father worked at Bethlehem Steel prior to the company going under. His family still lives in Maywood and personally knew the foreman that killed himself – in Rodriguez’s story.
I also tried completing my catechism classes at Saint Emidius church in Lynwood but got kicked out for being a shithead. So guess how The Lynwood Paragons got started?
Just remember one thing, that the experiences that Luis writes about – were not only his. The stories of growing up in LA belongs to endless people….specifically me.
I am a nobody….right
Celeste, I asked that you remove my comment that was addressed to “reg only” and apologized for it, even though the clip, intended to be humorous, was made by a black man. So, there was only one on which you had to make a decision, the first one in the previous post.
I disagree with your analysis and removal of it, which you did after repeated prompting by one “offended” commenter. That’s not exactly “blowing through the fence,” especially when you consider the language and personal attacks that you historically have permitted and the fact that I was making a point with a nonoffensive word and explained why I used it in the comparison.
Nah, Celeste, it was selective censorship, no matter how you want to explain it.
Why isn’t anybody discussing the injustice of this sales flyer? This sales flyer is absolutely vile, racist and xenophobic !!!!! The whites are calling us uncultured heathens !!!!
“It’s very simple to envision and locate the LA Eastside, hundreds of thousands of people for generations have done so, despite being quasi-invisible and denigrated by other citizens from West of the Eastside as Mexican gangsters, illegal aliens, and uncultured heathens to be feared and avoided except as a pool for cheap labor or easy marks when their homes and land were needed for some forced urban renewal public works project like freeway building or gov’t building projects.”
http://laeastside.com/2009/10/silver-lake-is-not-the-eastside-and-consumerism-isn%e2%80%99t-green/
Raze Dodger Stadium and turn the land back over to the illegal immigrants who were run off when it was constructed!
Woody, did you do an immigration check at Chavez Ravine when the residents were kicked out? How do you know they were illegals?
Poplockerone, sounds like you’ve got an ax to grind with Rodriguez. Sorry to hear that. He’s doing very well, helping a lot of at risk youth. And I mean a lot. He’s well respected. Sorry you have the hard feelings. Because he had a drug problem? Wow. That’s pretty closed minded. But it takes all kinds. Alrato.
N., Yes, yes I did do a check.
Even the old vaquero from Norwalk continues to call the immigrants “illegals”.. Can’t we refer to them as what they truly are – settlers?