Kameron Todd Willingham- Pinup Boy of the Left

[JoeB131]

This is a name you will be hearing a lot of in the next year, as Rick Perry challenges the Community Organizer.

In short, Willingham was executed in 2004 for the deaths by arson of his three infant daughters. But the usual suspects want to claim this guy was innocent and that Perry had executed an innocent man.

So was Willingham innocent?

Cameron Todd Willingham #899

Two days before Christmas in 1991, Willingham poured a combustible liquid on the floor throughout his home and intentionally set the house on fire, resulting in the death of his three children. According to autopsy reports, Amber, age two, and twins Karmon and Kameron, age 1, died of acute carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of smoke inhalation. Neighbors of Willingham testified that as the house began smoldering, Willingham was “crouched down” in the front yard, and despite the neighbors’ pleas, refused to go into the house in any attempt to rescue the children. An expert witness for the State testified that the floors, front threshold, and front concrete porch were burned, which only occurs when an accelerant has been used to purposely burn these areas. The witness further testified that this igniting of the floors and thresholds is typically employed to impede firemen in their rescue attempts. The testimony at trial demonstrates that Willingham neither showed remorse for his actions nor grieved the loss of his three children. Willingham’s neighbors testified that when the fire “blew out” the windows, Willingham “hollered about his car” and ran to move it away from the fire to avoid its being damaged. A fire fighter also testified that Willingham was upset that his dart board was burned. Willingham told authorities that the fire started while he and the children were asleep. An investigation revealed that it was intentionally set with a flammable liquid. His claims of heroic effort to save the girls were not borne out by his unscathed escape with little smoke in his lungs.

Ah, but what about those wonderful "Last words" where he proclaimed his innocence?

"The only statement I want to make is that 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. From God's dust I came and to dust I will return so the Earth shall become my throne. I gotta go, Road Dog." He expressed love to someone named Gabby and then addressed his ex-wife, Stacy Kuykendall, who was watching about 8 feet away through a window and said several times, "I hope you rot in Hell, bitch." He then attempted to maneuver his hand, strapped at the wrist, into an obscene gesture. His former wife showed no reaction to the outburst.

Convict in disputed execution was guilty, ex-wife says - CNN

Willingham's ex-wife, Stacy Kuykendall, has kept a low profile throughout the debate over his execution. But she told reporters outside the Travis County courthouse in Austin that "I am here to make sure that my daughters' voices are heard."

"Todd murdered Amber, Karmon and Kameron. He burnt them," she said. "He admitted he burnt them to me, and he was convicted for his crime. That is the closest to justice that my daughters will ever get."

Yup, honestly, you guys should dig up the man's corpse and embrace it.

 

[California Girl]

Clearly, this is important..... we can tell by the number of threads on the same topic.

Word to the newbies: use the fucking search function.

 

[JoeB131]

Clearly, this is important..... we can tell by the number of threads on the same topic.

Word to the newbies: use the fucking search function.

CG- Midol. It works wonders.

Seriously, every time I see you post, you are angry at someone about something. Usually something that isn't important in the cosmic scheme of things.

 

[editec]

Who?

 

[Too Tall]

This is a name you will be hearing a lot of in the next year, as Rick Perry challenges the Community Organizer.

In short, Willingham was executed in 2004 for the deaths by arson of his three infant daughters. But the usual suspects want to claim this guy was innocent and that Perry had executed an innocent man.

So was Willingham innocent?

Cameron Todd Willingham #899

Two days before Christmas in 1991, Willingham poured a combustible liquid on the floor throughout his home and intentionally set the house on fire, resulting in the death of his three children. According to autopsy reports, Amber, age two, and twins Karmon and Kameron, age 1, died of acute carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of smoke inhalation. Neighbors of Willingham testified that as the house began smoldering, Willingham was “crouched down” in the front yard, and despite the neighbors’ pleas, refused to go into the house in any attempt to rescue the children. An expert witness for the State testified that the floors, front threshold, and front concrete porch were burned, which only occurs when an accelerant has been used to purposely burn these areas. The witness further testified that this igniting of the floors and thresholds is typically employed to impede firemen in their rescue attempts. The testimony at trial demonstrates that Willingham neither showed remorse for his actions nor grieved the loss of his three children. Willingham’s neighbors testified that when the fire “blew out” the windows, Willingham “hollered about his car” and ran to move it away from the fire to avoid its being damaged. A fire fighter also testified that Willingham was upset that his dart board was burned. Willingham told authorities that the fire started while he and the children were asleep. An investigation revealed that it was intentionally set with a flammable liquid. His claims of heroic effort to save the girls were not borne out by his unscathed escape with little smoke in his lungs.

Ah, but what about those wonderful "Last words" where he proclaimed his innocence?

"The only statement I want to make is that 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. From God's dust I came and to dust I will return so the Earth shall become my throne. I gotta go, Road Dog." He expressed love to someone named Gabby and then addressed his ex-wife, Stacy Kuykendall, who was watching about 8 feet away through a window and said several times, "I hope you rot in Hell, bitch." He then attempted to maneuver his hand, strapped at the wrist, into an obscene gesture. His former wife showed no reaction to the outburst.

Convict in disputed execution was guilty, ex-wife says - CNN

Willingham's ex-wife, Stacy Kuykendall, has kept a low profile throughout the debate over his execution. But she told reporters outside the Travis County courthouse in Austin that "I am here to make sure that my daughters' voices are heard."

"Todd murdered Amber, Karmon and Kameron. He burnt them," she said. "He admitted he burnt them to me, and he was convicted for his crime. That is the closest to justice that my daughters will ever get."

Yup, honestly, you guys should dig up the man's corpse and embrace it.

Governor Perry didn't execute anyone, tne judicial system in the state of Texas did.

 

[Seawytch]

Like with Anthony Weiner...it's not what they did, it's trying to hide and cover up what they did...

 

[Bfgrn]

Man executed on disproved forensics
Fire that killed his 3 children could have been accidental

CORSICANA, Texas—

While Texas authorities dismissed his protests, a Tribune investigation of his case shows that Willingham was prosecuted and convicted based primarily on arson theories that have since been repudiated by scientific advances. According to four fire experts consulted by the Tribune, the original investigation was flawed and it is even possible the fire was accidental.

Before Willingham died by lethal injection on Feb. 17, Texas judges and Gov. Rick Perry turned aside a report from a prominent fire scientist questioning the conviction.

The author of the report, Gerald Hurst, reviewed additional documents, trial testimony and an hourlong videotape of the aftermath of the fire scene at the Tribune's request last month. Three other fire investigators--private consultants John Lentini and John DeHaan and Louisiana fire chief Kendall Ryland--also examined the materials for the newspaper.

"There's nothing to suggest to any reasonable arson investigator that this was an arson fire," said Hurst, a Cambridge University-educated chemist who has investigated scores of fires in his career. "It was just a fire."

Ryland, chief of the Effie Fire Department and a former fire instructor at Louisiana State University, said that, in his workshop, he tried to re-create the conditions the original fire investigators described.

When he could not, he said, it "made me sick to think this guy was executed based on this investigation. ... They executed this guy and they've just got no idea--at least not scientifically--if he set the fire, or if the fire was even intentionally set."

More

It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.
Thomas Jefferson

It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.
Thomas Jefferson

 

[Seawytch]

And Perry tried to cover the whole thing up.

 

[JoeB131]

Man executed on disproved forensics
Fire that killed his 3 children could have been accidental

CORSICANA, Texas—

While Texas authorities dismissed his protests, a Tribune investigation of his case shows that Willingham was prosecuted and convicted based primarily on arson theories that have since been repudiated by scientific advances. According to four fire experts consulted by the Tribune, the original investigation was flawed and it is even possible the fire was accidental.

Before Willingham died by lethal injection on Feb. 17, Texas judges and Gov. Rick Perry turned aside a report from a prominent fire scientist questioning the conviction.

The author of the report, Gerald Hurst, reviewed additional documents, trial testimony and an hourlong videotape of the aftermath of the fire scene at the Tribune's request last month. Three other fire investigators--private consultants John Lentini and John DeHaan and Louisiana fire chief Kendall Ryland--also examined the materials for the newspaper.

"There's nothing to suggest to any reasonable arson investigator that this was an arson fire," said Hurst, a Cambridge University-educated chemist who has investigated scores of fires in his career. "It was just a fire."

Ryland, chief of the Effie Fire Department and a former fire instructor at Louisiana State University, said that, in his workshop, he tried to re-create the conditions the original fire investigators described.

When he could not, he said, it "made me sick to think this guy was executed based on this investigation. ... They executed this guy and they've just got no idea--at least not scientifically--if he set the fire, or if the fire was even intentionally set."

More

1) the problem with this premise is that these after the fact investigators didn't investigate the scene. They investigated documents and videotape of the scene. The guys who did investigate the scene thought it was arson.

2) His behavior was really far more incriminating than the forensics. That he didn't rush back into the house, that he seemed more interested in keeping his car from being damaged while his babies were burning to death, that his biggest concern after the fire was getting a new dartboard.

3) His wife thought he was as guilty as sin. The wife whom he beat while pregnant. The wife who said he threated to take away what she loved. The wife who said he confessed right before he got the well-deserved hot shot.

Heck, guys, at least Karla Faye Tucker was somewhat sympathetic.