A case of innocence executed

[Swede]

He had always declared he was innocent of setting the blaze in his house, which took the lives of his three children two days before Christmas in 1991. His last protest was to refuse to cooperate with his executioners and had to be dragged to the death chamber's gurney. He was gone within 20 minutes and soon forgotten like most of the 1152 people who've died in Texas at executioner's the hand or the 16,708 across the US, beginning with George Kendall, a Virginian soldier, shot in 1608 for spying.

Now Cameron Willingham has arisen from the sheeted gurney within the green walls of Huntsville execution chamber to cast the shadow over the American justice system that defenders of the death penalty never wanted to see; has an innocent man been executed and will Texas become the first state to ever admit it?

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/a-case-of-innocence-executed-20091022-h9b9.html

[Solly Mack]

1. k/r

[SteppingRazor]

2. The New Yorker had a lengthy -- and extremely good -- story on this a while back.

Cameron Willingham was, to put it very, very mildly, no saint. But it's pretty likely that he did not commit the crime in question.

On edit: Here's the link: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann


Definitely worth a read.

[Tim01]

3. That is a problem with the death penalty. It is permanent. nt