Innocent man?


In regard to “Expert rips arson probe that led to execution” (Page A1, Aug. 26), since 1973, when the death penalty was reinstated, 135 death row inmates, including nine in Texas, have been exonerated when evidence of their wrongful conviction was found. Cameron Todd Willingham is not one of them. He was executed in 2004 for an arson that killed his young daughters in 1991. He went to his death claiming that he did not do it. An extraordinary investigative report in The New Yorker points to the fact that he was indeed innocent. The report exhaustively deconstructs every aspect of the case — forensic science analysis, snitch testimony, witness testimony and circumstantial evidence — and shows that the evidence used to convict him was invalid. The report comes at a time when calls to end the death penalty increasingly originate from unexpected quarters — state legislators, law enforcement officials and murder victims' families. It is too late for Willingham, but we can do the right thing and abolish the death penalty so we don't make this mistake again.

PHIVAN WRIGHT
Kingwood