Tonight on CNN AC360, Todd Willingham’s trial lawyer David Martin, the person who was supposed to have vigorously defended his client, made an appearance on national TV arguing for his former client’s guilt. Martin, appearing in a cowboy hat, drawled that the report submitted to the Texas Forensic Science Commission by Dr Craig Beyler was one of the “least objective reports” he has ever read. “This is supposed to be a scientific report?”, said Martin.

Steve Mills of the Chicago Tribune, then said that the arson investigation methods used in 1991 were not based on science. “That is absurd” said Martin.

You have to see the shocking video of Martin’s appearance. This shows why the Texas death penalty system can allow innocent people to be executed. Willingham did not have a chance with Martin as his lawyer. Anderson Cooper at one point said, “you don’t sound like a defense lawyer, you sound like a sheriff”.

Martin said, “this is riduculous. This is absurd. The defense lawyer doesn’t have to believe the client. This is an absurdity.”

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

Also on tonight’s AC 360, they reported on a juror from Willingham’s trial that told them she now has doubts about Wilingham’s guilt. The juror also says that she was allowed to be a juror even though her family was good friends with the fire investigator whose testimony helped convict Willingham. Her family’s close relationship with Doug Fogg would have likely been grounds for overturning his conviction and getting Willingham a new trial if it had been raised before his execution.

From CNN:

the controversy has led juror Dorenda Brokofsky to think twice about the decision she made in a jury room in 1992.

“I don’t sleep at night because of a lot of this,” Brokofsky said. “I have gone back and forth in my mind trying to think of anything that we missed. I don’t like the fact that years later someone is saying maybe we made a mistake, that the facts aren’t what they could’ve been.”

“I do have doubts now,” she said. “I mean, we can only go with what we knew at the time, but I don’t like the fact now that maybe this man was executed by our word because of evidence that is not true. It may not be true now. And I don’t like the fact that I may have to face my God and explain what I did.”

Also today, the Dallas Morning News ran a column by Lynn Wooley in which he speculates that Rick Perry’s handling of the Willingham case and Kay Bailey Hutchison’s so far less than fully energetic campaign effort, could cause some new candidates to enter the race for the Republican nomination for Texas governor. He says both Perry and Hutchison “have issues that must be cleared up – and soon – or other big names are going to enter the race.”

What if the commission concludes that Willingham was innocent – and the voting public concludes that Perry’s move to replace the chairman and three other members of the commission might have been a blocking tactic? The Hutchison campaign is already saying, “It gives the appearance of a cover-up.”

This sordid affair might prove very useful to Hutchison in her campaign to unseat the governor, except for the fact that she seems to have no fire in the belly to pursue the race. In a radio interview with WBAP’s Mark Davis, she said she isn’t sure when she will leave the Senate to pursue the governor’s race full time. She isn’t certain about what Congress will do with health care, and she wants to “stay and fight with every bone in my body against a government takeover.”

Sign the 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.

Plan to attend the 10th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty on October 24 in Austin at the Texas Capitol. We plan to deliver the petition that day. Members of Todd Willingham’s family are expected to attend the march and rally and help us deliver the petition signatures.

Todd Willingham was executed for arson/murder on February 17, 2004. He professed his innocence from his arrest until he was strapped down on the execution gurney. Now, we know for certain that he was telling the truth. On August 25, 2009, Dr Craig Beyler, the investigator hired by the Texas Forensic Science Commission to review the Willingham case, released his report in which he found that “a finding of arson could not be sustained” by a scientific analysis (Read the report here). He concluded that the fire in the Willingham case was accidental and not arson. In fact, there was no arson, so there was no crime. Texas executed an innocent person. The proven execution of an innocent person should mean the end of the death penalty in the United States.

CNN is reporting that two innocent men who were wrongfully convicted and executed for a killing that took place nearly 100 years ago have been pardoned by South Carolina. We hope that it will not take that long for Todd Willingham to receive a pardon from the State of Texas.

This is a story about racism in a murder case a long time ago, but racism continues to play a role in who gets the death penalty and who does not. Click here to read about the case of Rodney Reed in Texas.

From CNN:

Nearly 100 years had passed since his great-uncles, Thomas Griffin and Meeks Griffin, were wrongfully executed in South Carolina. On Wednesday, a board voted 7-0 to pardon both men, clearing their names in the 1913 killing of a veteran of the Confederate Army.

It marks the first time in history that South Carolina has issued a posthumous pardon in a capital murder case.

“It really, really feels good,” Joyner told CNN’s Don Lemon.

Joyner made the journey to Columbia, South Carolina, with his wife, his sons, his brother and nieces and nephews. When the board announced its decision, they danced, hugged and kissed. “All of the above,” he said. Video Joyner describes gleeful, historic moment »

In the end, it took only about 25 minutes for their pardon, nearly a century in the making.

“It’s good for the community. It’s good for the nation. Anytime that you can repair racism in this country is a step forward,” Joyner said.

He said the ruling won’t bring back his great-uncles, who were electrocuted in 1915. But it does provide closure to his family. “I hope now they rest in peace.”

and

The Griffin brothers had owned 130 acres in the area and were well-liked in the community. They were convicted of killing John Q. Lewis, a 73-year-old veteran of the Civil War. Lewis was slain in his home on April 24, 1913.

“Only the most profound sense of injustice would have led so many white leaders of the community and ordinary white citizens to publicly support blacks convicted of murdering a white man,” Finkelman said in a letter to the board of paroles and pardons.

According to the research uncovered by Finkelman, Lewis, the former Confederate soldier, apparently had an intimate relationship with a married 22-year-old black woman, Anna Davis. Suspicion initially turned to her and her husband after the murder.

“It is plausible to believe that the sheriff did not want to pursue Mr. and Mrs. Davis because if they were tried, it would have led to a scandalous discussion in open court,” Finkelman wrote to the pardon board on October 2, 2008.

The investigation later turned to another man, Monk Stevenson, who would ultimately point police to the Griffin brothers and two other black men. Stevenson received a life sentence in exchange.

“Stevenson later told a fellow inmate that he had implicated the Griffin brothers because he believed they were wealthy enough to pay for legal counsel, and as such would be acquitted,” Finkelman said.

The Griffin brothers and the two other men, Nelson Brice and John Crosby, were convicted in a trial that lasted four days. They were electrocuted on September 29, 1915.

Now, Joyner says he urges all African-Americans to explore their pasts — no matter how difficult that journey may be.

We ordered some T-shirts today for people to wear at the 10th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty or wherever else you want to wear them. The shirts have a picture of Todd Willingham on the front with his name below, and “Innocent and Executed” at the top.

On the back, it says:

“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.”
Todd Willingham, moments before his execution in Texas on February 17, 2004

www.camerontoddwillingham.com

If anyone wants to reserve a shirt, made by “ print my logo“, contact Scott Cobb at info@texasmoratorium.org or call 512-552-4743. They cost $20.

The Dallas Morning News has an interesting article today on the possible political fallout that may result from the Todd Willingham case and Rick Perry’s cover up. The article is by Lynn Woolley, who is a Texas-based talk show host streaming from www.BeLogical.com. He may be heard live in Dallas-Fort Worth on KVCE-AM (1160) at 9 a.m. For the entire article click here.

Excerpt:

It is becoming apparent that there is a possibility that neither Rick Perry nor Kay Bailey Hutchison may be the Republican nominee for governor of Texas. Both of them have issues that must be cleared up – and soon – or other big names are going to enter the race.

Perry is smack in the middle of a developing controversy over the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham – indeed a very bad man, but a man who may not have started the fire that killed his three children. The strange thing is that the question of Willingham’s guilt is not central to the governor’s problem. Of course, if Willingham did not set the fire – that’s huge. But if Rick Perry interfered with the Texas Forensic Science Commission’s investigation into the case – that’s monumental.

There will be an investigation, so imagine this: What if the commission concludes that Willingham was innocent – and the voting public concludes that Perry’s move to replace the chairman and three other members of the commission might have been a blocking tactic? The Hutchison campaign is already saying, “It gives the appearance of a cover-up.”

This sordid affair might prove very useful to Hutchison in her campaign to unseat the governor, except for the fact that she seems to have no fire in the belly to pursue the race. In a radio interview with WBAP’s Mark Davis, she said she isn’t sure when she will leave the Senate to pursue the governor’s race full time. She isn’t certain about what Congress will do with health care, and she wants to “stay and fight with every bone in my body against a government takeover.”

And we all thought she wanted to be governor.

Previously, Hutchison had said she would resign from the Senate by December. But she also had stated that she wanted to remain to fight cap-and-trade legislation.

So she’s going to resign unless she doesn’t, and she’s going stay in the Senate to fight Obama’s health care and energy bills unless she returns to Texas full time to run for governor. Are we confused yet?

Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Attorney General Greg Abbott are waiting and watching. They know that if Perry’s problem with the Willingham case blows up on him that Hutchison could easily take the nomination. Well, unless she doesn’t want it.

Sign the 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.

Rick Perry today vigorously defended his cover up of the execution of an innocent person in Texas by calling Todd Willingham a “monster”. Eugenia Willingham, Todd’s mother, responded to Perry’s statement by telephone on tonight’s CNN AC360, saying that Todd loved his kids and that Todd told her his trial was “a big joke” in part because his own defense lawyer thought he was guilty.

Kay Bailey Hutchison said today that Rick Perry’s actions and cover up has given “liberals” a valid issue to criticize the death penalty.

Dr. Craig Beyler was quoted on CNN tonight saying that Rick Perry’s new appointees to the Texas Forensic Science Commission should resign to restore integrity to the process. Beyler also said Perry is using his political clout to protect himself.

Below is a video of tonight’s CNN AC360 program.

From Hutchison’s press release:

“As hard as Rick Perry’s office and his campaign may try to divert from the issue, this is not about one man or one case. The issue is Rick Perry’s heavy-handed politicization of a process and Commission established by the legislature to provide critical oversight. First, Rick Perry delayed the formation of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, then he tried to ensure it didn’t have funding and when all else failed, he fired everyone he could. The only thing Rick Perry’s actions have accomplished is giving liberals an argument to discredit the death penalty. Kay Bailey Hutchison is a steadfast supporter of the death penalty, voted to reinstate it when she served in the Texas House and believes we should never do anything to create a cloud of controversy over it with actions that look like a cover-up.”

Chris Mathews also reported on the Willingham case tonight on Hardball. Watch the video here.

Beyler is quoted in the Dallas Morning News saying that Perry has a conflict of interest and should have not upended the investigation:

“his (Perry’s) failure to recuse himself is both unethical and injurious to the cause of justice,” Beyler wrote in a note intended for the Forensic Science Commission and forwarded to several reporters with his permission.

Call Perry’s office at 512 463 1782 and demand that he release the memo he received from his staff on the day of Willingham’s execution and all information that he is refusing to release regarding Willingham.

Send Perry an email through his website here.

Sign the 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.

Plan to attend the 10th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty on October 24 in Austin at the Texas Capitol. We plan to deliver the petition that day. Members of Todd Willingham’s family are expected to attend the march and rally and help us deliver the petition signatures.

Todd Willingham was executed for arson/murder on February 17, 2004. He professed his innocence from his arrest until he was strapped down on the execution gurney. Now, we know for certain that he was telling the truth. On August 25, 2009, Dr Craig Beyler, the investigator hired by the Texas Forensic Science Commission to review the Willingham case, released his report in which he found that “a finding of arson could not be sustained” by a scientific analysis (Read the report here). He concluded that the fire in the Willingham case was accidental and not arson. In fact, there was no arson, so there was no crime. Texas executed an innocent person. The proven execution of an innocent person should mean the end of the death penalty in the United States.

You can also send Perry a letter in the postal mail to the mailing address:

Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428

You can also call him on the phone and leave him a message:

Citizen’s Opinion Hotline [for Texas callers] :
(800) 252-9600

Information and Referral and Opinion Hotline [for Austin, Texas and out-of-state callers] :
(512) 463-1782

Office of the Governor Main Switchboard [office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST] :
(512) 463-2000

Citizen’s Assistance Telecommunications Device
If you are using a telecommunication device for the deaf (TDD),
call 711 to reach Relay Texas

Office of the Governor Fax:
(512) 463-1849