An Innocent Execution?

A engrossing yet very disturbing article about the likely execution of an innocent man by the State of Texas. Will this be the nail in the coffin for the death penalty? I'm hopeful but this is Texas, the leader in state sponsored executions, so I wouldn't be surprised if they ultimately conclude that an error was not made.

From The New Yorker...

[Willingham] had told his parents, “Please don’t ever stop fighting to vindicate me.” In December, 2004, questions about the scientific evidence in the Willingham case began to surface.

In a scathing report, [noted fire scientist Craig Beyler] concluded that investigators in the Willingham case had no scientific basis for claiming that the fire was arson, ignored evidence that contradicted their theory, had no comprehension of flashover and fire dynamics, relied on discredited folklore, and failed to eliminate potential accidental or alternative causes of the fire.

There is a chance, however, that Texas could become the first state to acknowledge officially that, since the advent of the modern judicial system, it had carried out the “execution of a legally and factually innocent person.”