Matt Smith of CNN was working on a story about the scheduled meeting of the Texas Forensic Science Commission and was planning to report Friday from the meeting, but today he shifted the focus of his story when Rick Perry shook up the panel and the new chair canceled Friday's meeting. His story includes the first reaction from Todd Willingham's family to Perry's action. In Ardmore, Oklahoma, where his family lives, Willingham's stepmother said she was "shocked and disappointed" by the postponement of Friday's hearing. In 2006, Willingham's stepmother attended the 7th Annual March to Stop Executions and delivered a letter to Perry urging him to investigate whether Willingham was innocent.
Sign a petition to Governor Rick Perry and the State of Texas to acknowledge that the fire in the Cameron Todd Willingham case was not arson, therefore no crime was committed and on February 17, 2004, Texas executed an innocent man.
From CNN: DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday shook up the ranks of a state commission that is probing whether a man executed in 2004 belonged on death row, forcing the commission to delay a scheduled hearing on the case.
Gov. Rick Perry's office said the moves were a routine replacement of members whose terms had expired.
Perry replaced the chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission and refused to reappointment two other members. The moves came two days before the commission had been scheduled to hear from arson investigation expert Craig Beyler, the author of the latest of three reports critical of the testimony that helped prosecutors convict Cameron Todd Willingham of murder in 1992. The governor's office told CNN the moves were a routine replacement of members whose terms had expired.
Perry, who says he remains convinced of Willingham's guilt, replaced commission Chairman Sam Bassett with John Bradley, the district attorney of Williamson County, near Austin. Another member, Aliece Watts, was replaced with San Antonio forensic pathologist Norma Farley. Perry also did not reappoint Alan Levy, a prosecutor in Fort Worth's Tarrant County.
As a result of the shakeup, the Forensic Science Commission put off Friday's scheduled session with Beyler, who was to answer questions about his conclusions in a public forum. The commission "will need time to regroup and reorganize," its staff coordinator, Leigh Tomlin, told CNN.
Bassett said he had asked to be reappointed to the commission, but, "Obviously, Governor Perry had other plans." He would not say whether he thought his replacement was politically motivated, but added, "I'm worried the good work of the commission will get tabled."
Willingham was accused of setting a fire in his home in Corsicana that killed his three daughters. He insisted on his innocence until the end, and opponents of the death penalty say his case and the subsequent reviews may force Texas to admit it executed an innocent man.
The Beyler report concludes that findings at the heart of Willingham's conviction -- that the fire that killed his daughters was set deliberately -- "could not be sustained" by either modern science or the standards of the time. Two previous reports by other experts also concluded that the fatal blaze was not arson, but Beyler's is the first commissioned by the state.
In Ardmore, Oklahoma, where his family lives, Willingham's stepmother said she was "shocked and disappointed" by the postponement of Friday's hearing.
"What good is it going to be having a commission if they don't have the freedom to investigate and find out what really happened?" she asked.
But Corsicana police Sgt. Jimmie Hensley, the lead investigator in the Willingham case, dismissed the reports as "Monday-morning quarterbacking."
"I'm firmly a believer that justice was served," Hensley said.
From the Houston Chronicle:
In a surprise move, Gov. Rick Perry today appointed two new members to a state commission investigating case of a Corsicana man who some believe was wrongly executed for murdering his children — forcing the cancellation of a meeting on the case scheduled for Friday.
Named to head the Texas Forensic Science Commission was John Bradley, district attorney in Williamson County. Bradley cancelled Friday's meeting at which the panel was to accept fire expert Craig Beyler's analysis of arson investigators' work in the deadly December 1991 house fire.
Three children perished in the blaze. Their father, Cameron Todd Willingham, was convicted of capital murder and executed.
Bradley, who has been his county's chief prosecutor since December 2001, said he called off Friday's meeting because he didn't have adequate time to study the arson case.
Beyler's report was extremely critical of the investigations by Corsicana and state arson investigators, concluding they based their arson ruling on outdated and sloppy procedures.
Beyler's was the third review to fault the arson investigators.
Outgoing commission chairman, Sam Bassett, an Austin defense lawyer, expressed “disappointment” at Perry's timing in the naming of new commissioners, but noted, “I understand that I serve at the pleasure of Gov. Perry.”
Also replaced were commission members Alan Levy, head of the Tarrant County District Attorney's criminal division, and Aliece Watts, quality director at Euless-based Integrated Forensic Laboratories.
Perry named Norma Farley, chief forensic pathologist for Cameron and Hidalgo counties to the panel, and will name a third member in the near future.
A spokeswoman for the commission, which is headquartered at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, said the outgoing members' two-year terms technically expired on Sept. 1.
Spokesmen for Perry's office did not offer immediate comments on the timing of the appointments.
Levy, who, like Bassett, had served four years on the panel, called Perry's timing on the appointments “unfortunate.”
“It will raise suspicions whether they are justified or not,” he said. “This is a very important case. What this is going to do is raise the temperature, and that will not be a good thing.”
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