the good news is they have evidence that this guy is innocent and convicted using "junk science". the bad news is the guy was executed in 2004 by the great state of texas Original Article Arson data refuted in executed man's trial record Henry Weinstein Los Angeles Times May. 3, 2006 12:00 AM A man executed by Texas in 2004 was convicted on an erroneous interpretation of fire evidence, according to a report from four leading arson experts. The experts called the fire evidence presented at the trial of Cameron Willingham for the 1991 murder of his three children in a Corsicana, Texas, house blaze "bad science" in the report presented to Texas officials Tuesday. "(The state's expert witnesses) relied on interpretations of 'indicators' that they were taught constituted evidence of arson. While we have no doubt that these witnesses believed what they were saying, each and every one of the indicators relied upon have since been scientifically proven to be invalid," the Arson Review Committee report states. Prosecution witnesses testified that the only way the fire in Willingham's home could have started was with a "liquid accelerant" (such as gasoline) that had been left on the floor. The witnesses said they reached this conclusion because of the pattern of burn marks on the floor. But the report said that presumption was no longer valid. "The philosophy that was out there for years was if you have fairly deep penetrating char on some floor material and then, right next to it, unburned floor material of the same type, it had to be caused by burning liquid accelerant," said Daniel Churchward of Fort Wayne, Ind. A panel member who has been investigating fires since 1972 as a sheriff's deputy, firefighter and insurance company investigator, Churchward said, "That has been proved wrong time and again. There are other ways to create those patterns." John J. Lentini, former chairman of the forensic science committee of the National Institute of Arson Investigators, led the review panel and said in an interview that he was convinced that Texas had executed an innocent man. Lentini presented the group's findings at a news conference in Austin with attorney Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project at the Cardozo Law School in New York, which commissioned the report. No member of the panel was involved with Willingham's case, and members were not paid for their work, they said. They gave the report to the recently formed Texas Forensic Commission, created by the state Legislature last year to deal with problems in criminal investigations revealed in recent years, including mistakes made by police crime labs. "I think we now have scientific proof that an innocent person was executed, and we have a government agency that is obligated to say so," Scheck said. He said that the Texas commission should open a broad probe of arson cases, citing statistics showing that Texas has the highest percentage in the country of people imprisoned on arson convictions. Until now, the Innocence Project has worked almost exclusively on cases where there was DNA evidence, and its work has helped exonerate and secure freedom for dozens of individuals around the United States who had been convicted of murder and rape. The Innocence Project is also investigating the cases of five individuals in other states currently imprisoned after convictions on arson charges, Scheck said. Lentini said he hoped that the committee's report "would raise public awareness of a serious problem in the justice system" with arson investigations. "I have been on the front lines of fire investigations for 30 years. I used to believe a lot of" things about arson that turned out not to be true, Lentini said. "Arson is the only crime for which you can be executed based on the opinion of a man with a high school education," Lentini said, referring to the fact that many arson investigators are qualified by judges as "experts" even though they lack scientific training. John Jackson, lead prosecutor in the case who is now a judge, declined to comment, as did officials of the International Association of Arson Investigators. According to testimony at Willingham's trial, his wife left the house to shop for Christmas gifts for their three children: Amber, a 2-year-old girl, and Karmon and Kameron, 1-year-old twins. Willingham said that he awoke after hearing Amber cry for help. The house was filled with smoke, he said, and he was unable to rescue the children and fled the house. They perished. Willingham was executed by lethal injection in February 2004, maintaining his innocence to the end. While strapped on the gurney in the execution chamber, Willingham declared, "I am an innocent man, convicted of a crime I did not commit."