State’s fire marshal to let advocacy group scrutinize cases
The Texas state fire marshal will allow the Innocence Project of Texas to review more than a decade of cases investigated by his office to identify possible wrongful convictions.
The fire marshal’s office has already sent 24 case files from 2002 to 2004 to the project.
Fire Marshal Chris Connealy said he intends to let the advocacy group review all his cases up to this year.
“Why not?” Connealy told The Associated Press in an interview last week. “We serve the public. And I want the public to have confidence in the criminal justice system.”
That confidence has been tested by challenges to several high-profile arson cases in Texas, most notably the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 for killing his three daughters in a 1991 house fire in Corsicana. Willingham maintained his innocence, and supporters say evidence suggests that he was wrongfully executed.
More at http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/08/06/6025358/states-fire-marshal-to-let-advocacy.html .
