was. what was the theory of the crime? the theory of the case was that todd willingham woke up on the morning a couple days before christmas, poured lighter fluid in an x-pattern in his children s bedroom and set the house on fire and then went outside and acted as if the fire was accidental and he couldn t get back in. three young girls, right? correct. was there a motive imputed? no motive was ever put forward by the prosecution. they said it was a spur of the moment thing. and so he was convicted obviously and afterwards why is it now, what is it about the case and fact pattern that made people think this was not actually an arson? well, it turns out that the people who investigated the fire on the day of weren t up to speed in terms of real evidence,
guys have spent a lot of time working on this film. people should see it. do you think he was innocent? do you think cameron todd willingham was innocent? there s no proof that he set a fire. there s no case to be made that it should have ever gone to trial. our filmmakers for the willingham case. thank you for coming here and explaining it. people should check out the film. thank you for having us. still ahead, the gop culture of death. it s not just for criminals. there s only one bottle left !
perry has put to death in his time as texas governor. more than any other governor in modern u.s. history. in texas, the only interruption to the state s full-speed-ahead attitude toward killing its prisoners has been the lingering scandal, the lingering question of whether texas under rick perry killed an innocent man in 2004. cameron willingham s conviction was for willingly setting a fire that killed his daughters in his homes but based on contested forensic evidence about the fire. after willingham was killed texas set up a commission to look at cases like his. governor perry was criticized for replacing the chairman of that commission in the middle of the investigation of the willingham case. perry s new chairman sidelined the willingham investigation. this week s texas s republican attorney general told the same commission it is not allowed to issue any official conclusion on the evidence in the cameron willingham case. it could investigate the gathering and processing of forensi
modern u.s. history. in texas, the only interruption to the state s full-speed-ahead attitude toward killing its prisoners has been the lingering scandal, the lingering question of whether texas under rick perry killed an innocent man in 2004. cameron willingham s conviction was for willingly setting a fire that killed his daughters in his homes but based on contested forensic evidence about the fire. after willingham was killed texas set up a commission to look at cases like his. governor perry was criticized for replacing the chairman of that commission in the middle of the investigation of the willingham case. perry s new chairman sidelined the willingham investigation. this week s texas s republican attorney general told the same commission it is not allowed to issue any official conclusion on the evidence in the cameron willingham case. it could investigate the gathering and processing of forensic evidence in other arson cases but not in the cameron willingham case.
texas set up a commission to look at cases like his. governor perry was criticized for replacing the chairman of that commission in the middle of the investigation of the willingham case. perry s new chairman sidelined the willingham investigation. this week s texas s republican attorney general told the same commission it is not allowed to issue any official conclusion on the evidence in the cameron willingham case. it could investigate the gathering and processing of forensic evidence in other arson cases but not in the cameron willingham case. whatever you think about the death penalty, whatever your position is on the issue and whatever cases like cameron willingham say to you about our ethics and our governance, the broader fact is this issue entered the national discussion because it s an applause line. hypothetically, if the texas forensics commission was about