Perry doesn't care if Willingham was innocent of the crime of arson. Perry and the new head of the Forensic Commission John Bradley are both the kind of men who think, if Willingham wasn't guilty of this crime, he's guilty of something else. They can rationalize executing Willingham easily. That's just the way they think. That's why Perry is out there saying Willingham was a "monster" and that he deserved to be killed.
Perry is a fiercely political animal and he'll do anything to protect himself. He knew what the report the Forensic Commission commissioned would say - that arson was not the cause of the fire that killed Willingham's children. So he couldn't have that interfere in his re-election campaign. Easily solved - remove the sitting chair Sam Bassett and 3 other members and replace them with people "more loyal" to him.
State sponsored execution is a horrible form of punishment and that's especially true in Texas which has a very horrible judicial system track record. Many, many people have been exonerated for crimes they did not commit.
Two more just this weekend. Many hundreds more probably still sit in our prisons.
Perry has served as Governor for more executions than even G.W. But he's also proud of that. That's the tough on crime attitude that unfortunately has a lot of support in Texas. The people have to change their attitudes and lead, because the Governor of Texas won't.
Sonia
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