Death Penalty: Cameron Todd Willingham of Texas

Cameron Todd Willingham

Report of Dr. Gerald Hurst

Texas Forensic Science Commission
The New Yorker Report

Cameron Todd Willingham, Texas, was executed wrongfully in 2004 after allegedly starting a fire to his house, killing his three daughters. Due to his history of domestic violence it wasn't hard for the police to suspect him of this crime; and quickly after a Fire Marshall examined the scene Cameron was convicted and sentenced to death.  

It didn't help this man that even his own attorney openly admitted that he believed his client started the fire that killed his own family.

While Willingham was in prison evidence arose that he had "satanic images on his walls and was a sociopath" and when the jurors heard of this evidence it was the crowning factor in the final decision.

Killing his children would be his "crowning achievement as a psychopath".

With the Fire Marshal finding 20+ accelerants at the scene and multiple origin points it quickly became obvious that the fire was one of arson, and the only logical starter was Todd. With no motive and no true double check of evidence Cameron Todd was killed.

Quickly after being convicted he was thrust into loneliness, who would believe a "dangerous" man who killed his children? His neighbors reported that he watched his house burn and made no attempt to go inside and save his kids from their death, and this point, at the time, made the idea of arson very believable. Why save people who you were purposefully killing?

Though it was later determined that normal humans cannot force themselves into going into a fire, the human brain does not allow an individual to do so. Even if he tried to save them, which is indeterminable, he wouldn't have been able to because his own body wouldn't allow it.

His ex-wife was quick to jump into the court room and accuse him of the deaths; her children were dead and she knew it was him, after all why would an ex-wife say anything bad about her previous husband? Friends were quick to point fingers at him as he seemed to be calm and under control rather than distressed at the loss of his three daughters. No one bothered to take a second look at the "evidence" at that point, it was all word of mouth, someone had to be punished for taking three young girls from the earth.

He was executed and the death penalty in the case was "proven" to be the best route, until it wasn't.

Dr. Gerald Hurst stepped into the picture years after the execution to prove that Cameron Todd Willingham was an innocent man who was wrongfully convicted and murdered; he and many others often look back on this case when examining the death penalty.

One can never be sure that the right choice is being made, and if the death penalty is allowed, there is always room for error. A life sentence can be overturned but people cannot be brought back from the dead.

1994, Cameron Todd Willingham refused an offer and plead guilty to the murder of his children

In the end Cameron was pardoned, sadly this was six years after his death.

“This Court orders the exoneration of Cameron Todd Willingham for murdering his three daughters. In light of the overwhelming, credible, and reliable evidence presented by the Petitioners, this Court holds that the State of Texas wrongfully executed Cameron Todd Willingham.”