The latest on Willingham
More on the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham:
- Governor Perry's general counsel at the time of Willingham's execution, now a Texas Supreme Court Justice, was himself indicted for arson in 2008.
It gets even stranger. The Texas blog Dog Canyon reports that Gov. Perry's general counsel at the time of Willingham's execution was himself indicted in an arson case in 2008. David Medina was able to get the indictment dismissed after questioning the judgment of the arson investigators for failing to look at possible causes of the fire other than arson—precisely the criticism leveled at investigators in the Willingham case. The Harris County District Attorney's refusal to bring charges against Medina moved two members of the grand jury that indicted him to speak out publicly against the decision. Medina now sits on the Texas Supreme Court. Perry appointed him to that position in 2004.
- Willingham's trial lawyer David Martin speaks out and says that his client was guilty:
Martin loudly protests that he did a wonderful job and that the experts now claiming his client was innocent are not credible. What should we think of an attorney who goes on national television to proclaim his client's guilt? From looking at the Texas bar association's website I could not tell if this guy is still a practicing attorney - he may be retired.
Throughout his interview, he repeatedly says that his job as a defense attorney is not to believe his client, but that his job is to test the state's evidence which is what he did. I beg to differ. A defense attorney's job is to present a complete defense for the client, to investigate the case, and to fight for them. If you can't believe in and care about your client a jury is not going to believe in or care about your client either. This guy is now saying on national television that he always thought his client was guilty.
Martin says that for the last 20 years he has represented the interests of businesses - I wonder how his corporate clients would feel about him going on national television to vilify them, discussing details of their case in an attempt to justify why he lost their trial?
- According to a Gallup Poll, knowing that innocent persons are executed would not sway the opinions of many death penalty advocates.
- Two of four black men executed 94 years ago here in South Carolina were pardoned on Wednesday, the first to be posthumously pardoned in a death penalty case. Thomas and Meeks Griffin were great-uncles of a local radio talk show host, Tom Joyner.
Comments
Mr. Martin’s statement about conducting an experiment with lighter fluid and getting the exact same kind of patterns that he saw in the Willingham residence actually proves the point of the fire scientists who have researched the development of fire patterns in fully involved compartments.
While it is true that you can make a pattern with an indictable liquid in the open, you can make that same pattern without an indictable liquid inside a compartment. Patterns produced during full room involvement can look exactly like patterns produced by an indictable liquid, and care must be taken in their interpretation. In fact, if the laboratory report comes back negative, the pattern should be attributed to the radiation that accompanies full room involvement.
Posted by: John Lentini | October 17, 2009 9:45 AM