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AUSTIN -- The new chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission said Tuesday that the panel will “absolutely” resume an inquiry into an 18-year-old arson investigation that led to the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.
The inquiry has been stalled for more than five weeks after a commission shakeup ordered by Gov. Rick Perry. John Bradley, whom Perry named to head the reconstituted panel, told state senators that commission members will continue the review and return an opinion “when it’s ready.”Appearing before the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, the Williamson Country District Attorney outlined his intentions for improving the small watchdog agency and told lawmakers that the Willingham case would not be abandoned.Willingham, an unemployed Corsicana mechanic, was executed in 2004 after he was convicted of setting a house fire that killed his three daughters. He repeatedly insisted that he was innocent.The nine-member commission agreed to look into the case after several fire experts concluded that the fire may have been accidental, raising the possibility that Texas executed an innocent man on Perry’s watch. Craig Beyler, a fire science expert in Baltimore, Md., has conducted a review for the commission, and, like the other experts, said the original investigation into the fire was flawed and did not sustain a finding of arson.Responding to questions by Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, the committee chairman, Bradley said the commission would rely on Beyler’s report as “a part of our work” while conducting a comprehensive review of the case. “Whitmire called the hearing after Perry abruptly replaced three members of the commission on Sept. 30 as it was preparing to hear from Beyler. The commission shakeup prompted criticism that Perry was trying to derail the inquiry, but the Republican governor has defended his actions, calling Willingham a “monster” whose conviction was upheld by nine state and federal appeals courts.Perry’s shakeup of the commission prompted accusations that the Republican governor, who denied a last-minute appeal to postpone Willingham’s execution, was attempting to undercut the inquiry. Beyler, who was hired by the commission in late 2008, has demanded that Perry’s new appointees resign and relinquish their posts to their predecessors. But Bradley stressed that he was not a “political pawn” and told senators that neither Perry nor his aides sought to influence his new role as commission chairman. He also asserted that the commission’s work is not intended to evolve into “a debate” on the death penalty and deplored third-party advocacy groups whom he said were trying to influence the commission with their own agendas. The agency – which Whitmire has described as a “step-child” in the state bureaucracy – has struggled to carry its mission, operating on thread-bare budget with only one staff member.Bradley, who has spent his opening weeks as chairman reviewing commission operations, told senators that the commission must have adequate funding to do the job for which it was created. He told senators that will ask the Legislature for more resources.In outlining shortcomings now facing the commission, Bradley said the agency has no policies or procedures to define what constitutes negligence or misconduct by a forensic scientist. The commission also has no standards for determine what cases to accept and what commission to review.
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