Evil hair-petting secessionist madman Rick Perry, Texas “Governor for Life,” is in some hot poop nowadays over what else, randomly executing everyone. But the scandal lay in the cover-up, of course: why won’t Rick Perry release official documents from the day of an execution in 2004, showing that the person he killed was probably innocent? And why is he firing the state official investigating the circumstances of this execution and requesting these documents? Probably because Rick Perry never read them, or read them and didn’t care. Don’t want to spoil a good killin’ for the public, after all.
The Houston Chronicle had an excellent summary of this whole thing, yesterday:
Just 88 minutes before the February 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, Gov. Rick Perry’s office received by fax a crucial arson expert’s opinion that later ignited a political firestorm over whether Texas, on Perry’s watch, used botched forensic evidence to send a man to his death.
In a letter sent Feb. 14, three days before Willingham was scheduled to die, Perry had been asked to postpone the execution. The condemned man’s attorney argued that the newly obtained expert evidence showed Willingham had not set the house fire that killed his daughters, 2-year-old Amber and 1-year-old twins Karmon and Kameron, two days before Christmas in 1991.
On Feb. 17, the day of the execution, Perry’s office got the five-page faxed report at 4:52 p.m., according to documents the Houston Chronicle obtained in response to a public records request.
But it’s unclear from the records whether he read it that day. Perry’s office has declined to release any of his or his staff’s comments or analysis of the reprieve request.
More terrible things:
Just months before the controversial removal of three members of a state commission investigating the forensics that led to a Texas man’s 2004 execution, top aides to Gov. Rick Perry tried to pressure the chairman of the panel over the direction of the inquiry, the chairman has told the Tribune.
Samuel Bassett, whom Perry replaced on the Texas Forensic Science Commission two weeks ago, said he twice was called to meetings with Perry’s top attorneys. At one of those meetings, Bassett said he was told they were unhappy with the course of the commission’s investigation.
“I was surprised that they were involving themselves in the commission’s decision-making,” Bassett said. “I did feel some pressure from them, yes. There’s no question about that.”
This is like “Troopergate,” but in Texas, and involving more death. It should also remind anyone who’s seen Errol Morris’ documentary The Thin Blue Line — one of THE best movies ever, period — of how the Texas justice system operates at its worst: some terrible crime happened? Find the first suspect, do whatever you can to kill him. Makes everyone feel safer.
(And don’t investigate afterwards!)
Perry’s office quiet on expert’s arson report [Houston Chronicle via Burnt Orange Report]
Cameron Todd Willingham: Former head of Texas forensics panel probing 1991 fire says he felt pressured by Gov. Perry aides [Chicago Tribune]
{ 67 comments }
He will release it when Texas leaves the Union.
oh great an animated gif of…whatever…why?
On Feb. 17, the day of the execution, Perry’s office got the five-page faxed report at 4:52 p.m.,
“Well, on one hand, this ol’ boy might be innocent. On the other hand, our office closes at 5 p.m. Tough shit, hombre.”
Yawn.
Wake me up when they start executing retards.
Best regards,
Arkansas
If only we could get him to do that to Ross Douche-Hat, the resulting oil slick might revitalize the Texas economy.
Rick Perry clearly does not put the care into executions his predecessors did. W obsessively pored over execution documents, rolling naked through piles of them while while murmuring “I am the decider, I am the decider, …”.
Looks like numbnuts may get a brush-clearing buddy.
What is there to snark about here? Let us all pray that no more Texas Republican governors become national Presidents, ever. Or John Fucking Cornyn, who suspiciously hogs the camera at every opportunity.
Know whose votes he would have lost if he stayed the execution? The religious right.
Eyup, thass how we like to do thangs down heah. Harris County, Texas, where Houston is located, sends more people to death row than any other jurisdiction in the United States, more than most states. This does not seem to prevent serious crimes from occurring in Harris County, but it does get people elected.
Okay, yeah, but in Rick’s defense, Wellingham was probably a poor and/or a black. So, you know, he had it a-comin’.
This is Texas; I have a very hard time believing that Slick Rick would be in any serious trouble over executing an innocent man.
Wasn’t it a Texas judge who refused to keep the courthouse doors open an extra 10 minutes so that an appeal in a death penalty case could be filed before the expiration of an appellate deadline?
Why does anyone want to live in that shithole state?
I’m trying to think of great people who came from Texas, and all I can think of is Molly Ivins.
Just 88 minutes before the February 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, Gov. Rick Perry’s office received by fax a crucial arson expert’s opinion that later ignited a political firestorm over whether Texas, on Perry’s watch, used botched forensic evidence to send a man to his death.
Really? An arson expert ignited a firestorm? Very, uh, fiery.
[re=432277]ChernobylSoup v2[/re]: Know whose votes he would have lost if he stayed the execution? The religious right.
hell yeah. culture of life and all.
[re=432284]Doris Ziffel[/re]: Hey now, there’s Ann Richards. And Larry McMurtry. And who could forget this little lady rat cheer?
[re=432279]MMS[/re]: he actually looks pretty white. well Italian white, anyway, if that counts.
And given the fact that there was no crime committed by anyone, he prolly wasn’t even a criminal.
But I dunno if Texas is gonna give a shit. I don’t know Texas and really don’t care to..
The political calculus was easy. Execute a maybe innocent man and three liberals in Austin write really poignant poems about it, versus, fail to execute somebody when you have a chance and get a challenge from the right for being soft on crime. Plus, everybody calls you a pussy.
[re=432283]germansteel[/re]: “Why does anyone want to live in that shithole state?”
Because there are more jobs, at better pay, than back in Mexico. Or China, if they managed to get a visa.
Other than that, I’m hard pressed to think of a reason.
Wait, Rick Perry let Texas fry a white guy ?
[re=432284]Doris Ziffel[/re]: What about Willy Morris, Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite, Jim Lehrer, Larry L. King, Dan Jenkins, Katherine Anne Porter, John Henry Faulk, J. Frank Dobie, John Avery Lomax, Sr. and Willy Nelson? And, you have to give some credit to ugly little Ross Perot, whose hate-fuck of a Presidential campaign split the Repug vote in 1992 and got Bill Clinton into the White House.
[re=432296]Crank Tango[/re]: Yeah, well, 9-11. M’Kay?
[re=432270]ChernobylSoup v2[/re]: We do that on a reg’lar basis here. Mental capacity, or lack thereof, is no block to execution in Texas! In fact, it’s encouraged!
[re=432284]Doris Ziffel[/re]: Ann Richards. And, er…..hmmm…….
This case was an absolute travesty, from start to finish. I’m not COMPLETELY against the death penalty, but pretty fucking close. Closer, every time I read about something like this.
[re=432270]ChernobylSoup v2[/re]: Yeah, but we extended suffrage to the idiots and the insane last year, so you know, win some, lose some.
>>”Texas Forensic Science Commission”
Shee-it, that’s tha problem!! Tha guvner was raht to ignore that there report. Ever’body knows that science ain’ worth crap nohow. Jeebuz done tells us when a man’s done wrong! An if’n tha jury done convicted him proper-like the first time, well, ya know what they say: “HIS will be done.”
If’n he di’nt start that there fahr, well then Jeebuz is lovin him up in heaven now cause he ain’ no murderer, and he don’ mahnd gittin hisself executed!
The cover-up on Rick Perry’s end is to cover his own ass, but the entire conservative sphere in general (and the state of Texas in particular) will want to keep this under wraps, for their execution-porn industry’s sake. The important part of all this is not who’s at fault for what happened, but what happened, period.
The best, most rational, most cited, and most defensible intellectual defenses of capital punishment (not that I agree with them) by people who honestly believed in the program have always had a major fucking caveat. If there is ANY possibility of an innocent person being put to death, the entire program is completely indefensible and inexcusable (the inverse of “if it saves just one life”). And that is exactly what happened in Texas, with the late Mr. Willingham.
Kay Bailey Hutchinson et alia will play this up to try and kick Rick Perry’s ass, but if this investigation goes through to its conclusion, the death penalty is on the way out.
I watched “the Thin Blue Line” without knowing anything at all, and about 2 minutes after it was over, I said “Oh God, was that a documentary?” I thought those were all actors. It’s horrifying.
As once and future Gov. and possibly king of Texas, Rick Perry gets votes by executing people. I’m sure he chalks everything else up to God’s business. This ain’t Ohio- if he pardons someone, the creatures start gnashing their teeth like Atzecs when a sacrifice escapes.
My apologies to the majestic beauty of the scrub brush, but the state is just a few pedophiles short of being an overgrown Oklahoma. It belongs to Mexico, give it back.
Wow. We may finally get the answer to the question “how badly does a Republican have to fuck up before he loses the governorship of Texas?” Will Texas finally draw the line?
The New Yorker had a lengthy peice on this several weeks ago. It is truly a tragic story. The man who was put to death was in all likelihood innocent. He wasn’t a saint by any means (earlier wife-beating conviction, etc.), but he almost certainly did not commit murder. It’s chilling to look at the family photo that accompanies all the stories on this and realize that everyone except the mother is dead, all due to circumstances far beyond their control.
[re=432284]Doris Ziffel[/re]: OOOOh, there’s LOTS of ‘em! Willie Nelson, Barbara Jordon, Sandra Day O’Connor, Jim Hightower, Walter Cronkite, and my personal favorite: Daniel Johnston
[re=432314]AnnieGetYourFun[/re]: This is precisely why I am against the death penalty. One innocent life taken is one too many.
A groundbreaking document in fire investigation, the National Fire Protection Association’s NFPA 921, was published on Feb. 10, 1992, less than two months after the fatal fire at the Willingham house.
Filled with the new revelations about fire science, NFPA 921 was developed by 30 fire experts, including Lentini and DeHaan, and was written as a guideline for fire investigators. It is considered the standard on fire investigation and is a key reference text for the Texas fire marshal’s office. Some investigators, however, have refused to acknowledge it, preferring to stick to the old ways.
http://www.truthinjustice.org/willingham.htm
The NFPA renews its standards every three years for each discipline, fire investigator being one of them. So by the time the 2004 execution took place, the standard that exonerated Willingham had been reviewed (and reiterated) three times. Of course Perry would want to cover up his willful and criminal ignorance.
Who knew ignorance could do you wrong, Rick? It’s not what they taught you in Sunday School.
[re=432305]Zorg[/re]: Sorry, never heard of most of your examples, and you probably shouldn’t include Dan Rather, because, you know, batshit.
But I shouldn’t criticize. I live in Maryland, whose claim to fame is having one of the most corrupt and stupid state governments ever. The one that gave the world Spiro Agnew and, more recently, Michael Steele.
[re=432306]MMS[/re]: true. ’tis better to kill a hundred swarthies too many than one too few. or something like that. Nevah Forgit nine eleventy!
[re=432283]germansteel[/re]:Why does anyone want to live in that shithole state?
Look on the bright side, along with a limitless supply of idiots and their politicians, Texas produces a bumper crop of Pole Dancers. Perhaps it’s the rampant incest and physical abuse, perhaps it’s the peyote and lone star beer, it might even be the statewide requirement that every Texan have carnal relations with an Armadillo,(who knows, certainly not the Texans, they’re idiots) but if you see a woman firing ping pong balls from her lady parts on a stage, it’s a safe bet she’s a Texan. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out both Sara Palin and Michelled Bachmann are from Texas clans who escaped since that vacuous, slightly cross-eyed expression is a hallmark of the original breeding stock we sent down there to steal the land from those brown devils, the Messicans.
[re=432303]The Other Sarah T[/re]: But Willingham had a skull tattoo on his arm. Which – in Texas – is solid, irrefutable evidence that he’s a no-good, devil worshippin’ mofo who fried his kids.
[re=432329]NYNYNY[/re]: Believe me, Ohio has plenty of them teeth-gnashing critters. Just not enough, lately. Lucky for us.
For now.
~
[re=432303]The Other Sarah T[/re]: Nope.
The five-page fax that Perry received had misspelled the inmate’s name as “Cameron Todd Willinghamnendez Garcia”. After that, despite Gov. Pretty-Hair’s initial conclusion of “no-hatm, no-foul”, mistakes were made.
Anyway, the guy does, scratch that, did look a bit Mexican: http://blogs.fayobserver.com/myronpitts/files/2009/08/willingham-and-daughter.jpg
[re=432344]Doris Ziffel[/re]: Sir or ma’am: We Illinoisans — and Chicagoans in particular — would have in olden day challenged you to a duel for besmirching our fine state (and city). Nowhere in these United States is there or has there been historically more corrupt local government. Stupid? OK, perhaps, but corrupt? Nevah!
[re=432323]Zadig[/re]: “Kay Bailey Hutchinson et alia will play this up …”
Not happening. It is a basic tenent of the Texican Baptist religion that Christ was executed by accident. If it was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me and you.
Senator Clairol will ignore the issue or, if asked, will say that the turning of the unfortunate Todd into a Tostito was a matter of “aggressive law enforcement”.
[re=432344]Doris Ziffel[/re]: You’ve never heard of Willy Nelson? Or Jim Lehrer? Wow!
Why was there no comment on this thread about Perry being Texas’ one man death panel?
http://camerontoddwillingham.com/?page_id=6
Sign the petition to Governor Rick Perry and the State of Texas to acknowledge that the fire in the Cameron Todd Willingham case was not arson, therefore no crime was committed and on February 17, 2004, Texas executed an innocent man.
Tenth Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty
October 24, 2009 at 2 PM
Austin, Texas
Texas State Capitol Building South Side (11th and Congress)
http://marchforabolition.org
[re=432389]kapish[/re]: And that in Texas, executions are used as a means of limiting public healthcare costs.
I hope Rick Perry doesn’t believe in Final Judgement, God and Heaven, he will have some explaining to do.
[re=432385]Zorg[/re]: Yeah, Willie Nelson’s OK. I tried to read Lehrer’s autobiography once, but it was Sorry, Too Boring. I seem to recall he has a fetish about model trains.
Yeah, NPR was breathlessly covering this case’s bases a few weeks ago as I sat in Houston’s hellish traffic. “Texas might admit to killing an innocent man!” Linda or Meshell or whoever exclaimed.
“Ha, that’ll be the fuckin’ day,” I muttered to myself, swerving to avoid an F-150 with a WHERE’S THE FENCE? and SOCIALISM IS GREAT UNTIL YOU RUN OUT OF OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY stickers on its shiny bumper.
[re=432284]Doris Ziffel[/re]: Pardon me for answering this with such gusto if it’s already been answered, but ANN RICHARDS! She of the line re Bush Sr – he was born with a silver foot in his mouth. Miss her!
[re=432279]MMS[/re]: Incredibly he was white.
[re=432284]Doris Ziffel[/re]: Sam Rayburn.
Don’t hate on Texas, y’all. There is intelligent, educated, liberal life here, too.
[re=432349]Crank Tango[/re]: I read the New Yorker article, and it would be too depressing to go back to it again, but I don’t think there was a bit of “swarthy”-as-in-Meskin in Willingham. He was a whitey in East Texas, right? And most of East Texas is WHITE. And a lot of poor, and very much of backwards.
They are not of the type of person that is disproportionately put to the needle, but I do think Todd was just white. He just was the kind of white that nobody cares too much about.
[re=432349]Crank Tango[/re]: For the record, East Texas sucketh mightily.
Think of the last scene of “Easy Rider”, for example.
More recent example: a young couple I know finally got both of their educational houses in order. The young man graduated–I am not making this up–from zookeeping school, and he was offered a position at the zoo in Tyler, which is an accredited zoo, in fact, as curator of the birds. His wife, who has both a law degree and a CPA, though, could not find work in Tyler, and they finally repaired back to Austin and her previous job, and he is a kind of high-end pet-sitter.
She couldn’t get work because she is American-Bangladeshi. Not in Tyler, no matter how many degrees she has.
[re=432736]rozisadork[/re]: And it should move out.
This whole hoo hah really drives home the absence of Richards and Ivans. They would be having a field day with this Perry douchebag. Sigh. Every year my kids’ christian school mounts a campaign to convert me, and my best shut-down is an innocent passive agressive question from me of. “so I don’t understand why most christians I run into are both pro-life, and pro death penalty– could you explain that to me? This is generally followed by a long pause and some nonsensical dribble about how the bible says to obey rules and elected government. I always counter with “I can think of many historical instances in which public disobedience prevailed for the greater good, blah blah, but it goes nowhere.
I am following this storu with great interest. I hear Austin is pretty progressive– maybe they can voice in here.
Perry should step up & admit the guy was probably innocent. What’s more right-wing than a governor who doesn’t care if the condemned is guilty or not?
[re=432750]octupletsmom[/re]: you know, now that you mention it, I have heard a joke re: east texas that goes:
Q: how do you know you’re in east texas?
A: when you go up to a house and you fall through the porch and kill two dogs.
I have no idea where I heard that, but I have always accepted it as valid.
[re=432354]dijetlo[/re]: “if you see a woman firing ping pong balls from her lady parts on a stage, it’s a safe bet she’s a Texan.”
It’s a very very good bet. In fact, I’ve moved my money from treasury bonds to this bet recently.
Ok I’m real sorry about the kids that got burned up but thus far no one is investigating the Mormon kids Rick Perry promised I would get just as soon as they got’em. Don’t you think those Mormon kids need investigating too.
I fucking abhor capital punishment, and this is just one of the many reasons why. Someone said that Harris County sends more people to their death than any other jurisdiction, which is pretty amazing since Harris County is not the most populous county of those that allow capitol punishment, which speaks a lot about the culture of juries and judges in Harris County, and nothing good. I love the irony in Houston always trying to pass itself off as cosmopolitan, and it’s about as barbaric and backwater as any big city in the First World can get, and then they have the gall to crap on other cities.
[re=432314]AnnieGetYourFun[/re]: This (executing the innocent) is not by any means the only good argument against capital punishment, but it’s certainly a start.
Anyway, my real question with this case is thus: if a five-page report came through the fax a mere 88 minutes before the scheduled execution, could they not have sent an executive summary, or perhaps a two-page report an hour or two beforehand? Why wait till 4:52 bloody pm when an innocent man’s life is at stake? How long did they spend proofreading a document destined for an illiterate governor?
[re=432428]Doris Ziffel[/re]: Your Honor, the witness is unresponsive.
Governor Rick Perry showed no compassion and very poor judgement by not delaying the execution of a man who was likely innocent.
It is no wonder that people in other countries are appalled over our criminal justice system and that we lock up a larger percent of our citizens than any other democracy–more than Mexico, more than India. Did anyone see the shocking BBC piece on overcrowding in the California Corrections Systems? People in other countries are horrified that the country which likes to think of itself as the “leader of the free world” still executes people.
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