Stephen Saloom, the policy director of the New York-based Innocence Project, said prosecutor John Bradley shows “a critically important lack of objectivity” in his approach to the case of Cameron Todd Willingham. Bradley has publicly called Willingham a “guilty monster.” Bradley is the chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which is investigating whether fire […]
Arson Detection
Willingham court of inquiry postponed until Oct 14, 2010
The district attorney of Navarro County sought the recusal of state District Judge Charlie Baird in a high-profile court of inquiry that was set to start today to determine whether Cameron Todd Willingham was wrongfully executed by the state of Texas for the deaths of his three daughters. The motion raised the possibility that the two-day hearing […]
Update Hina family
New Hampshire’s Sullivan County Superior Court Judge Marguerite Wageling heard arguments on David McLeod’s bail request last Sept. 7, 2010. She issued a ruling last Friday, writing that the state met the requirements for keeping McLeod in jail, but at the same time, she also ordered a second hearing. The state was required to show that the proof […]
“The petition warrants a hearing,” Judge Baird
The inquiry into the Willingham case will be held in his courtroom on Oct. 6-7, but Judge Baird said that it could be extended if necessary. Supporters of Cameron Todd Willingham hailed the Austin district judge’s decision last Monday to open a two-day court of inquiry next month. He will determine whether Willingham was wrongfully convicted and […]
Daniel Dougherty and Forensic Arson Detection
Daniel Dougherty was found guilty of deliberately igniting fires in his home that killed his two sons, Danny(4) and Johnny(3) in 1985. Police arrested Dougherty 14 years later, when his estranged wife came forward and claimed he confessed. A jury found him guilty on capital murder charges in 2000. He is awaiting his execution. His case […]
Political meddling and apathy in Willingham case
Political meddling and apathy in Willingham case has me despondent. A Texas state board said last Friday that arson investigators in the Willingham case used flawed science but were not negligent in an investigation that led to a controversial 2004 execution. The panel also said that investigators did not commit misconduct. Cameron Todd Willingham was […]
The 2004 Willingham execution
Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004 for a fire that killed his three daughters. Prosecutors argued that Willingham deliberately set the 1991 blaze — but three reviews of the evidence by outside experts have found the fire should not have been ruled arson. The last of those reports was ordered by the Texas Forensic […]
Lapointe hearing July 7-8-9, 2010
Christopher Cosgrove, Lapointe’s public defender during the criminal trial, and Henry Theodore Vogt, who sought a new trial for Lapointe in the late 1990s, testified during the latest hearing seeking a new trial for Lapointe. Paul Casteleiro, Lapointe’s current lawyer, focused on what Cosgrove and Vogt didn’t do when they handled the Lapointe case in […]
July 6: Lapointe Habeas hearing
Tomorrow, the Richard Lapointe Habeas hearing will resume for three more days in the Rockville Superior Court. Lapointe was convicted for the 1987 murder of Mrs. Bernice Martin, his then-wife’s 88-year-old grandmother. He was sentenced to life without parole. After the Connecticut Supreme Court upheld his conviction, his lawyer filed a petition for a writ of Habeas Corpus that, if granted, […]
Hina Family Murders from 1989 cracked
On Wednesday, New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney announced that David McLeod has been arrested in West Sacramento, California, on four counts of second-degree murder for “recklessly causing the death of the Hina family under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life,” according to a written statement from the attorney general’s office. […]