Transcripts For KQED Frontline 20141008

By fire. Frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontline is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional support is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. At fordfoundation. Org. The wyncote foundation. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. Its small town america. Its Football Games on friday nights. Everybody gets along, Everybody Knows everybody. This is a nice country community. Corsicana is a wonderful place to live, but every town has their bad people in it, and bad things happen in every town. So were no different than anybody else. It was the 23rd of december. The price is right was on, that was what i was watching. Two or three of the girls went out on the back patio and come running in the house, and said, mamma, i think sheilas house is on fire. I run to the front and out the door, and thats when i seen todd at his front door, and he started screaming, my babies. Oh, my babies, my babies are burning. Narrator their neighbor, 23yearold cameron Todd Willingham, was in the house with his three children when the fire started. A call came across the scanner. There was a house fire with possibly people trapped in it. I remember my mom screaming, go back in, go, go try to get the babies. And i grabbed him, and i said, is there anybody in the house . He said, yes, my twins are in that room right there. Well, i went in the front door, and i went to the left, and thats as far as i could get. It was completely engulfed in fire. sirens blaring i pulled up on the scene, got out, immediately started stretching the fire line. I made entry into the house through the front windows, knocking the fire down as i went. The first fire fighter came out, he was cradling a small child in his arms, and he began to drop to one knee. And as he began to drop to one knee, the little girls arm just. Just fell limp right at her side, just, you know, just like a little rag doll. I went back to the fire room looking for the children. At that time, chief fogg was in there, and he had already located the children, but they were both dead. Narrator firefighters tried to save twoyearold amber, but she died shortly after reaching the hospital. All three children amber, karmon and kameron were dead. Their mother, stacy, was Christmas Shopping at a thrift store when the police told her. In the blackened ugliness, there are remnants of a fire. There are remnants of christmas as well a melted Christmas Tree with a few ornaments, a teddy bear still waiting for christmas morning. And there are two parents who want this christmas to go away. My little girl was crying, daddy, daddy and when i woke up, the whole house was in smoke. Narrator Todd Willingham was virtually unharmed. He did have some minor burns on his shoulder, and his hair was singed. To me, it just was not. The injuries were not consistent with being in a Burning House that was supposedly burning so bad that. That he had to get out and couldnt find his kids. Narrator around town in corsicana, texas, willinghams lack of serious injuries and a night of partying after the fire fueled rumors. Immediately after the children were killed in the fire, he was seen at a local bar essentially exhibiting behavior that was completely inconsistent with a person who had lost his three children. When the willingham children died, several of us thought it would be a good idea if we did a benefit dart tournament to raise funds to help with their burial. Todd and Stacy Willingham showed up the night that we had the tournament. Todd got too involved in the fun. And he was heard to brag to others that he wouldnt have anything to worry about now because the money would start rolling in because people would feel sorry for him. He showed a great interest in a new pair of darts, and that really kind of shocked me. I thought, well, im really not going to let you give me back the money that i just gave you for a new pair of darts. So i just gave them to him so that he wouldnt lose the money that i wanted him to spend on those funerals. Narrator the police launched an investigation. Todd willingham was the primary suspect. Youve got to count his actions before and after, youve got to count his actions during the fire, and things like that. That makes the whole story, not just one little segment of it; its every bit of the story. Narrator the police had been to willinghams house before. Wed been over to todds house where hed got physical with his wife stacy on a couple occasions. He was a very mean man. He beat on stacy all the time. I mean, you know. I mean, this was, like, everyday. They could hear the impact of him hitting his wife and his wife hitting the floor. His statements to her that were. Could be overheard throughout the neighborhood dont get up, bitch, or ill hit you again. I figured he would kill stacy, you know. Thats how bad it was. You know, something terrible is going to happen, and he will eventually kill her. Narrator witnesses who had been at the fire also told police that willingham did nothing to rescue his children. Once he got outside, i cannot find anybody who actually said he made an attempt to get back in to save his kids. He didnt try to go back in. Not one time. Putting that whole picture together made me believe that he was guilty of homicide, that he killed his three little girls. And my job was to find how them little girls died, and if it is an act, a criminal act, its my job to build a case so he can be prosecuted for his act. Narrator as soon as the fire was out, the search for the cause of the blaze began. Narrator investigators came to believe that this was a crime scene. You start by eliminating accidental causes. We go back to where the breaker box is. We see wiring again. No evidence of shorting. When you get through with your accidental causes, whats left . Narrator they figured the fire had started on the floor. They were looking for evidence that something flammable might have been poured there. In the childrens room, there. They were signs of what we thought was an accelerant poured on the floor. Usually accelerants will leak through the cracks on the floor and burn underneath, and the fire burns up. Narrator then, at the door to the porch, investigators found what they were looking for. There was an unusual burn pattern on the aluminum threshold plate, which indicates that something had been introduced, poured down, leaked through. We took a sample of that, and it came back as a positive sample for charcoal lighter fluid. And im thinking thats the first time i called it arson. Narrator the official state report on the fire listed 20 indicators of arson. Investigators were now convinced. Narrator the Police Called in Todd Willingham. My dad told him to go down there and give a statement, and when he went and gave a statement, he talks too much. And i dont know what all he said, but whatever he said, that started it. Just his whole demeanor to me looked like he just wanted to tell a story. More like he was bragging about it than, you know, being remorseful. He was more like he was proud of his actions, that he claimed he tried to do to save his kids and stuff. Willingham said he heard the oldest one calling daddy and went into the bedroom and crawled around on the floor because the smoke was so thick and stuff, looking for the babies, but he was unable to find them. Narrator but officer hensley wasnt buying the story. After a while in this business, you get to judge people by their actions and their looks, you know. And youre not 100 percent right, but usually its a good thing to go on. Just looking at his eyes, i didnt see any type of remorse or sympathy in them. Narrator and willinghams story didnt seem to square up with his lack of injuries. He was barefoot when he come out, and he had no burns on his feet. But we could see where there was burns in the hallway, and we cant figure out how he got out without burning his feet. Narrator detectives pushed willingham to confess. They even used pictures of his dead children. Todd didnt show any remorse in the interview until i actually showed him the pictures of his children. And at that time, he started crying. You know, i dont think he was sad so much that he killed the kids as much as that its come into light that, you know, he was a suspect in it. Narrator they charged him with murder. Bail was set at 1 million. They offered him a deal confess and avoid the Death Penalty. His courtappointed attorney, david martin, urged him to take the plea. If all the evidence is overwhelming that the person is guilty of the crime charged, and the chances of introducing reasonable doubt are slim to none in your professional opinion, of course youd rather have him accept a life sentence and save his life. Narrator despite the pressure, willingham refused to plead guilty. Hed take his chances in front of a jury. He wouldnt plead guilty. He was very adamant. He said they could kill him right then and there. Narrator the case went to trial in august of 1992. The prosecution began with a surprising witness, a jailhouse informant. There was the testimony of johnny webb, who had been incarcerated at the same time as willingham and who testified that willingham had confessed. He said, well, you know, i cant deal with what ive done. And i said, what are you talking about . And thats when he confessed to what hed done. Narrator and webb told prosecutors something else. Willingham admitted to him that he spread the accelerant on the floor in the childrens room in sort of a pentagram or a starshaped pattern. Narrator a pentagram. To the prosecutor, it was a symbol for satan worship, and he offered posters found in willinghams room as proof. It was a poster of an iron bar being driven through a persons head, and there was some indication that it was some sort of a. A satanist image. You got three little girls lives involved. They showed these kids to the jury and you hear his past, you see that, and the judge tells them to do what they need to be doing. I mean, i dont know how much more could you stack it against him, do you . Theres plenty of people Walking Around in corsicana, texas, that if that happened to them today, they would get the benefit of the doubt because they had treated their family in a respectful manner and taken care of them, okay . Todd willingham had not treated his family in a respected manner, and he didnt get the benefit of the doubt that some people would have. Narrator the trial lasted three days. It only took an hour for the jury to find willingham guilty. He was sentenced to death. You know, ive been criticized by some because ive said that of course i thought he was guilty. How stupid would you be, how incompetent would you be as a defense attorney if you just went in and swallowed the story the defendant gave you . The real fact of the matter is that willingham was guilty. He wasnt innocent. He really set that fire and killed those kids. I feel like justice was served for those three little girls. It was a jury of 12 people of this community who determined that, with all the evidence presented to them, that he was guilty, and thats the way the system works. Narrator willingham was taken to the texas state prison at huntsville to await his execution. He said the worst thing in the world is to be accused of what he is accused of and to be found guilty of that, and then have to go to death row and live with that. When he was in death row, they would step on his heels, you know, and trip him and call him baby killer and everything else, you know. Narrator willingham sat on death row for seven years. His appeals were going nowhere. There was little interest in his case. Then inmate number 999041 received a letter. It was from 47yearold Elizabeth Gilbert. Someone asked me if i would like to write a man on death row, be a pen pal, and i was like, sure, and i volunteered. I had been in a place in my life a relationship had ended, my parents were getting elderly, i was kind of adrift. The name that was given to me, just randomly, was Todd Willingham. Narrator willingham eagerly wrote back. I was just really struck by the letter from todd. It was very polite. It was very kind. Narrator gilbert wanted to know more about willingham. She decided to meet him face to face. I walked in expecting to see a black man, you know, the whole stereotype. And here was this handsome young white man who was very polite and very genial. Narrator willingham told her his version of what happened at the fire. The story he told me was, you know, this, he woke up to a fire, you know. He ran out of the house, couldnt get back in to save his children. Theres a writer in me that was like, this is a great story. Narrator gilbert decided to find out for herself who Todd Willingham really was. His story began in ardmore, oklahoma. Todds mother had several children by different fathers and todd had been abandoned in california. Narrator todds father gene had remarried. His wife eugenia raised todd as her own. We got todd when he was 13 months old. I thought he might be anxious and cry, but he just crawled up in my lap and that was it. He acted like hed always lived there. He had a way of telling you how he felt. He never came into the room when he didnt hug my neck. Narrator it was a different story with todds father. Hes the type of guy that. Just that you cant do anything right and everythings wrong. Lets say that he has a hammer there, and you borrow it and you put it back. Thats good, but its not good enough if its not facing the same way. His father was very strict, and todd knew this, but it didnt stop him from doing some things that he got in trouble for. Narrator todd struggled in school, and gilbert was surprised to learn that by the sixth grade, he was already using drugs. He liked to inhale the aerosol from spray paint cans. I think he started huffing paint when he was 11. He started on drugs at 11. You know, id see signs, and id ask him and hed blame it on the other kids, you know. His mind kind of stayed there. To me, his thinking ability always stayed at 11, 12, 13, along in there. Narrator during his trial, prosecutors claimed that as willingham got older, he began to commit increasingly violent crimes. He would have him a gang. He would recruit younger kids that he could intimidate and send them out to pull the burglaries and bring the loot back to him, and then he would pay them off in drugs. Narrator and jurors heard that willingham was a violent sociopath. He was an individual with essentially no redeeming values. This was his crowning achievement as a psychopath, the murder of his three children. Narrator in fact, psychiatrist dr. James grigson testified willingham was a severe sociopath. Grigson had testified in more than 100 Death Penalty cases, earning the nickname dr. Death. Hes hired to come in and make sure they get the Death Penalty by assuring the jury that, you know, this person would be just a. You know, has to be removed from society. Narrator gilbert discovered that grigson had never met willingham, but those who actually knew todd said he was hardly a violent criminal. I just didnt see that person. Thats not the todd i knew. Todd had been arrested for tampering with an automobile. In other words, he had opened the door of a vehicle and not gotten any further. By the time hed opened the door, the police were already on site. I put him in jail, i think, on his 18th birthday because hed screwed up again. And i said, i have tried to save your ass, and now im going to put your ass in jail so you cant enjoy your 18th birthday. Youre going to go to jail for weekend or whatever it was i dont remember the details. He wasnt a sociopath, he wasnt a psychopath; he did stupid crap like steal bikes. Narrator and in todds teenage love of heavy metal music, gilbert found an explanation for those satanic posters; they were from the rock bands led zeppelin and iron maiden. led zeppelins black dog playing we had posters of iron maiden hanging in our house, too. My exhusband probably still has his iron maiden posters, you know, at 40. He. They were iron maiden fans. So what . What they looked at were posters on the wall, which are the typical posters that young men listen to, the heavy metal; that he smoked pot, you know; that he had this horrible past of crime which turned out to be shoplifting and a bicycle. Narrator gilbert followed todds trail from oklahoma to texas. Hed moved to corsicana to be with his girlfriend stacy. Theyd met while she was still in high school and before long had three children under the age of two. He changed their diapers and took care of them and did everything that they needed. And he made them a lot of macaroni and cheese. He did a lot of cooking for them. Narrator stacy wound up waitressing in her brothers bar while todd stayed home with the kids. I know they struggled that year, trying to take care of three babies, and it was very hard, you know. I cant imagine. Id say to the girls, he was a real good dad, but as far as going out and providing a nice home, nice job for the family, and being a family provider like youre supposed to, id say he didnt. Narrator todd and stacys relationship deteriorated into abuse. When you have three little kids and youre stuck in the house always on together and your friends are out doing stuff, i think that was part of todd and stacys problem, you know . Three little kids and youre poor and you get bored and start picking at each other. Narrator nevertheless, only three months before the fire, todd and stacy decided to get married. He told me, he said, im going to try to do whats right. Im going to try to make this work, and were going to get married. And he said, i know its going to be hard, but thats what i should do. Narrator todd would have to change his ways; he had a reputation as a ladies man. Stacy wasnt the only girl in his life, im sorry to say. Todd acted like he really cared for stacy, but he acted like he cared for other girls, too. Narrator there was one woman in particular. She was an older woman that i didnt approve of at all. She was a neighbor that lived across the street and had children his age. Narrator when he married stacy, todd ended the relationship. When he come and he told me that he had married stacy, it. It broke my heart because i knew i was losing at that time, the love of my life, my soul mate. And. But i knew why he was doing it, and i could not ask him to walk away from his kids because he couldnt do it. I wouldnt do that to him because i knew how much he loved them. He had other choices, but he. He chose his children. Narrator after the fire, stacy stood by todd, insisting he was innocent. But when he was sent to prison, she started a new life. After the conviction and after todd was on death row, stacy decided to get a divorce. She didnt visit him on death row. Narrator Elizabeth Gilbert found stacy in corsicana. They kept saying that the fire. I told her i was a writer, im from houston. I interviewed her, i taped her, and she was very. Seemed kind of reserved, nervous. Just a person who had a lot of tragedy in her life. He used to beat me real ba. He just had a temper, i guess, and i was stupid for putting up with it. But the first time he ever hit me. Narrator todd had begged stacy to visit him, but she refused. At first, i didnt go in there when they, you know, convicted him. I didnt want to be in there. You know, i was tired of it. We were just, you know, threatening each other, arguing back and forth through writing, and i just filed for divorce. Narrator nevertheless, stacy said she didnt believe todd was capable of killing the children. He was mean to me, but i always said, you know, he may beat me, he may kill me, but he would never do nothing to the kids. And i always knew that, you know . They were his kids. He never hurt the kids, you know . I mean, but me, that was a whole different story. She really convinced me that she felt that an injustice had been done. My sense in the interview was, like, she left me with the opinion that todd was innocent because she didnt feel that he had done this. She didnt feel like he was capable of doing that. Narrator now gilbert wanted to sort out the other evidence. I went up to austin and got the records of the trial. Im in, you know, copying these records. Im reading these reports. Narrator she dug into the story of that jailhouse informant. A red flag to me was johnny webb. The idea that a prisoner would confess to a complete stranger that he had committed a crime just didnt. I just didnt buy that. Narrator webb had a reputation as a troubled young man with a long history of felony arrests. We decided to use his testimony, even though his credibility was subject to attack. We felt that he had no real reason to lie about this particular. What wed term a jailhouse confession. Narrator gilbert decided to talk to webb in person. She found him serving 15 years. He stood by his story. He was a very nervous young man. I wouldnt have. Had i been sitting, you know, on the jury, i couldnt have bought his testimony. Narrator later, her suspicions about webb were confirmed when he sent this letter to prosecutors recanting his testimony and declaring willinghams innocence. And then he changed that story, recanting the recantation, and now he doesnt remember any of it. I dont remember. Maybe i did. Maybe its because what everything i was going through, i told them i was going to recant if someone doesnt help me, because they was trying to kill me. You know what im saying . Something to put some pressure on somebody to do something to get me out of where i was at. Narrator as willinghams execution date neared, there were other problems gilbert could not overcome. She learned willingham had lied to investigators about his attempts to rescue the children. I think the secret he was carrying was the guilt. In his mind, he couldnt acknowledge that he didnt, you know, try to save his children, so he concocted the story that he, you know, tried to go in and find the babies and couldnt. And he said, what im guilty of is being a coward. He said, i should have died in that house with the kids. But he said, it doesnt matter what people say, you cant let yourself catch on fire without trying to get away. And you can sit and say every day, i would burn up before i let my kids die in a fire, but he says, its not humanly possible. Narrator and the biggest challenge remained that evidence of arson. Gilbert had never been able to get an arson expert to examine the states findings. And then, just three months before the execution, gilbert was in an automobile accident. Paralyzed, gilbert could no longer visit willingham. You know, it was impossible for me to go. I was incapable of that sort of travel, you know. Sitting in a chair that long, driving to huntsville, it just wouldnt have happened. Narrator gilberts investigation was over. Under the windows, the low burn. Narrator in the 12 years since willinghams conviction, one fact had remained unquestioned the fire was an arson. Burn patterns unusual to a normal fire burn. Narrator but during those years, there had been a dramatic change in the science of arson investigation. The Fire Investigation community largely consists of people who are firemen. Theyre not scientists, they dont have any formal scientific training. Extinguishing a fire and investigating a fire involve two different skill sets and two different mindsets. Narrator john lentini is at the top of his field, one of a small group who reinvented the science of arson detection. So many determinations were based on hunches and feelings. And. And these guys, they talk about, oh, you got to get in there and feel the beast. And im just embarrassed for their profession that this is the way people evaluate physical evidence. Narrator the change in arson science began when scientists set their own fires and studied how they burned. That was the first time science was ever really introduced into the mainstream of Fire Investigation. Narrator like lentini, dr. Gerald hurst was one of the new fire scientists. Gerald hurst is a chemist extraordinaire with a ph. D. From cambridge university. Hes the idiosyncratic godfather of modern arson science. Hes like this Mad Scientist who is not mad at all. Narrator for years, willinghams supporters had tried to enlist hursts help. They finally gave him the states arson report only weeks before the scheduled execution. Taking a look at the photographs and video and testimony and Fire Investigation report, it became apparent that we were dealing with a fire which had gone to flashover. Narrator flashover, the instant ignition of all combustible material in a room. Flashover had left natural patterns on the floor that all postflashover fires tend to leave behind, and these had been misidentified as pour patterns. And thus, the fire had been labeled an arson. Narrator hurst reviewed the report line by line. Heres your first bit of socalled arson evidence. This was typically interpreted in the old days as a pour pattern. In other words, someone poured gasoline or some other accelerant down the hallway, out the front door and then ignited it. The prosecutor in this case literally believed that the burn patterns on the floor were in the shape of a pentagram, like some satanic ritual. When you actually look at the burn pattern that they drew and then you look at where the windows are, windows furnish ventilation to a fire, and all they were looking at is what we call ventilation patterns. Narrator the original arson investigators had testified that there was evidence of a liquid accelerant on the threshold of the porch door. A sample of wood debris from the base of the front porch was analyzed and the results were positive for a combustible liquid, accelerantkerosene. Well, thats quite understandable because the porch also had a barbecue on it, and, of course, it would be charcoal lighter fluid there if there was a can of charcoal lighter fluid on the porch. Narrator hurst also addressed willinghams lack of injuries. The question has been asked why were Todd Willinghams feet not burned . And the answer to that question is quite simple because if no accelerant was poured on the floor, the floor would have been relatively cool until shortly after flashover occurred in the bedroom. The last part of him that would have gotten any burn would have been his feet. Narrator and hurst concluded the original investigators had not eliminated accidental causes. There had to be at least one electrical short in that room, and since it was surface wiring, it would have been relative childs play to simply trace it. Get a step ladder and trace it and go over it inch by inch until you locate the fault. That, in and of itself, is enough to toss a case out for arson. Narrator hurst had come to believe Todd Willingham was not guilty. Todd willinghams case falls into that category where there is not one iota of evidence that the fire was arson. Not one iota. Narrator hurst completed his report on february 13, 2004, only four days before the scheduled execution. You know, all hope was lost, and we now have the answer. Getting the news from dr. Hurst was. I mean, it was. It was definitely a high. Narrator willinghams attorney filed a series of emergency last minute appeals. I thought that somebody would. Would at least say, lets stop and, you know, lets at least hold on and lets take a look at it. I mean, we were talking about somebody that was convicted of something that wasnt a crime. Narrator while willingham waited for the courts to decide, he received shocking news stacy had told reporters that she now believed he had murdered their children. She told me that she had changed her mind and felt that todd was guilty. Narrator stacy talked to todds private investigator, tina church. And she indicated that she had read the entire trial record in one day. And i kept trying to tell her, well, we have new evidence. How would that make you feel to know that your former husband, the father of your children, is going to be executed for something he possibly didnt do . And she just really had convinced herself by this point he was guilty. Narrator it all started a few weeks before at a contentious meeting between todd and stacy. For the first time in 12 years, she visited todd in prison. He asked her not to come to the execution, and he had one last request. He asked her if he could be buried by the children, and she refused. It seems like there was just a lot of hate that came out in that interview. Narrator then only one day before the execution, prosecutors filed a stunning document with the courts an affidavit signed by stacys brother claiming that, according to stacy, willingham had allegedly confessed during that final meeting at the prison. It outraged willingham. He denied it and prepared to die. He said, theyll kill me and ill go to heaven with my kids, because i dont want to live this life without them. And he said, god knows. God knows i didnt do this, and thats what matters. Narrator on february 17, the day of the execution, all of willinghams final appeals failed. Despite the hurst report, the texas courts and the United States Supreme Court refused to delay the execution. It was just, you know, the train had left the station and nobody was going to stop it. Narrator and Texas Governor rick perry would not use his authority to delay the execution for 30 days. In texas, you do not get elected by granting stays of execution to people like cameron Todd Willingham. You do not show any kind of mercy to criminals. You are hard on criminals. And that gets you elected in this state. I was given the duty or task to call mr. And mrs. Willingham, and it was one of the most really horrifying experiences that i ever had to go through, to tell parents that their son, even though had been proven innocent, was going to die. Narrator at 6 00, cameron Todd Willingham was told that his time was up. When he was asked by the warden if he had anything to say, then he went into the statement where. That he said he had been wrongly convicted and that he was innocent. At some point, he looked over and into the states witness room, he noticed stacy. She walked up to the window, and he says, [bleep] you, bitch. I believe that he felt in his heart that she had lied, and her lie had cost, you know. Helped cost him his life. Not only did he tell his wife that he hoped she would rot in hell, he said that he hoped that she would [bleep] rot in hell. Id heard a lot of things over covering hundreds of these executions in texas over the years, id never run into that. Then the drugs began to be administered, and within a few moments, he had been. He was unconscious, and then a few moments later, was pronounced dead. They told us that we could go to the funeral home when the state turned his body over to the funeral home and touch him while he was still warm, so thats what we did. And after i knew it was over, i went home to my kids and never been so glad to see them in my life. And i knew todd was with his. He finally went home to his. Did the state which executs more convicts than any other kill an innocent man . Did texas execute an innocent man . Explosive new charges over the execution of a man who at least half a dozen Forensic Experts now believe was innocent. Narrator in death, questions about willinghams innocence would not go away. By 2008, the controversy had ended up in a small state agency. The Texas Forensic Science Commission was designed to go in and figure out what happened and figure out how to keep it from happening again. We decided that we needed to hire an expert in the area of fire science to look at all of the data we could get pulled together, and give us a report. Narrator the commission hired fire scientist dr. Craig beyler to investigate the willingham case. Beyler agreed with other experts that there was no evidence of arson. The beyler report is point for point a confirmation of the original hurst report, that all 20 of the indicators were wrong. Narrator to the top fire scientists in the country, the implications were clear. The state of texas executed a man for a crime that they couldnt prove was really a crime, and the evidence says, this was an accidental fire. And if it was an accidental fire, it doesnt matter how many posters of iron maiden cameron Todd Willingham had on his wall, or led zeppelin, or whether he liked to play darts or drink beer, or whether he smacked his wife around; it only matters that the fire was not really a set fire. Narrator Texas Governor rick perry was running for reelection. I knew from the beginning that it could be controversial simply because we had a person who had been executed, and the science used in his case might be questionable. And the implications are obvious. It doesnt take long to connect the dots there. Narrator just before the beyler report was to be presented, the governor fired the commissions chairman. Around 4 00 or 5 00 p. M. , i received a call from doris scott of the governors office. She said, i just wanted to let you know that the governor thanks you for your service on the commission. And i said, okay, well, thank you for calling. This is a guy on his. On. In the death chamber. His last breath, he spews an obscenitylaced triad against his wife. Thats the person that were talking about here. And getting all tied up in the process here is, frankly, a deflection of what people across this state and this country need to be looking at. This was a bad man. But if there was no arson, there was no crime. Go back and look at the record. Narrator then he installed a political ally, prosecutor john bradley, as the new chairman. It wasnt until rick perry stepped in and replaced three members of the commission and within days the story had grown nationwide that it got to be a big story. Narrator willinghams case is now at the heart of the National Debate about the Death Penalty. Thank you for making this todds day. Well, i think the implications for Capital Punishment are there, but the implications for noncapital cases are there, too. And that is, if we make a mistake, are we going to learn from it . Or are we going to try to sweep it under the rug and act like Nothing Happened . I can guarantee you weve got at least a couple hundred people in prison in this state alone for accidental fire, and we need to get them out. Narrator but in corsicana, they made up their minds a long time ago. I believe that Todd Willingham got exactly what he deserved the day they put him to death. And i dont believe that he didnt get a fair trial in this town, and i dont. Its really a shame we couldnt put him to death three times since he took three lives. Unusual to a normal fire burn. Narrator and the original arson investigators still insist willingham set the fire. I dont care how many degrees you may have, how many books you may have written, this was a set fire. We had a jury of 12 people that convicted a man who was later executed. Was mr. Willingham innocent . In my opinion, he was guilty as the day he was born. Narrator this year, the case of cameron Todd Willingham is back in the news. A new controversy erupted over the key testimony from johnny webb that jailhouse informant who testified about willinghams alleged confession. That was one of the two pillars that sent Todd Willingham to the gurney. Narrator last month, webb agreed to a new interview this one recanting his testimony. Willingham never, ever, not once told me that he killed his family. He never said that. I was told to say that. You know, im sorry i lied about it. I wish i can change that. I cant. Narrator webb accuses the prosecutor, john jackson, of making a deal in exchange for his testimony. At the time, webb was himself facing charges in a robbery case. And he says, so they made me promises. Promised that i would get taken care of. That they would get me out early. Narrator and documents recently uncovered by the Innocence Project, a legal advocacy group, seem to support webbs story. You cant believe johnny webb just on his word. But when the documents corroborate what hes saying, that is when theres truth to the matter. Narrator among the documents, evidence that prosecutor jackson assisted webb in the years after the trial. We start to see what really can best be described as a full court press from john jackson to get johnny webb out of prison. Narrator the Innocence Project has filed a formal complaint against jackson, and jackson has filed a lengthy response with affidavits from witnesses disputing webbs story. Jackson insists there was no deal, but does admit giving webb extraordinary assistance, claiming he had an obligation to protect a witness from threats in prison. Jackson declined a request for a new interview. The texas state bar is reviewing the matter. Visit pbs. Org frontline for more about the new revelations from jailhouse informant johnny webb. I was told to say that. Excerpts from the key documents in the case, and extended interviews from the program. Socalled arson evidence. The murder of his three children. Then connect to thfrontline community. Check us out on youtube, facebook, twitter, and pbs. Org frontline. Were using 30 Million Pounds of antibiotics each year to raise our animals. The problem of antibiotic resistance in human beings has gone up substantially. There are a lot of studies that show food safety benefits in using these drugs. Theres mounting evidence that we really do have a problem and this is impacting public health. Theres no evidence that that is the case. Frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontline is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional support is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. At fordfoundation. Org. The wyncote foundation. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. Media access group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org for more on this and other frontline programs, visit our website at pbs. Org frontline. Frontlinedeath by fire is available on dvd. To order, visit shoppbs. Org or call 1800playpbs. Frontline is also available for download on itunes. What if television. Ali i shook up the world could remember the heroes we honored . The music we danced to . The dreams we chased . Kennedy the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die. No one tells our nations story like pbs. Give to your pbs station, and help bring americas story to life. Welcome to independent lens. Im your host, marylouise parker. In slam poetry, you put your heart and skills on the line every time. Smoking duchies just make my lip black, but being black make me spit. Now aneta is raising the bar without speaking a word. American sign language, or asl, is a language many of us do not understand. She dives into asl poetry to break out. Theres no paper, no text. Rhymes are measured in hand shapes, meter in movements. Images cut and dissolve as its verses transcend all spoken word. [crowd cheering] independent filmmaker judy lieff, a former dancer, understands the power and rhythm of physical language. She captures aneta in all her fearless expression