 "Photo: Eric Ou/The Daily Texan")
The newly appointed chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission was in the hot seat Tuesday, facing tough questions about how the newly appointed commission members will handle a controversial arson case.
John Bradley, the newly appointed commission chairman and Williamson County District Attorney, answered questions from the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee at the Capitol.Gov. Rick Perry selected Bradley Sept. 30, two days before the commission was set to review a 1991 arson conviction against Corsicana resident Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 for allegedly setting fire to his home, killing his three young daughters.
Perry denied Willingham a 30-day execution stay after receiving a clemency report on the day of Willingham’s execution.
The commission was set to meet Oct. 2 to discuss an August 2009 report written by fire expert Dr. Craig Beyler that cast doubt on the methods used by fire investigators in the Willingham case.
“The investigators had poor understandings of fire science and failed to acknowledge or apply the contemporaneous understanding of the limitations of fire indicators,” Beyler said in his report. “A finding of arson could not be sustained.”
One of Bradley’s first actions as commission chairman was to cancel the Oct. 2 meeting, and the board has yet to reschedule it.
Bradley said he could not comment on the Willingham case because it is a pending investigation. He said the commission is going to attempt to schedule a meeting in January.
Senators also asked Bradley about an op-ed piece he wrote for Friday’s Houston Chronicle.
In the article, Bradley advocated dramatic expansions of the commission’s power, saying that they were necessary for the commission to deliver authoritative decisions.
“We intended for the process, the commission’s work, to be very transparent and public,” said state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston. “One way you do that is by talking about [the work] in public.”
Bradley responded by saying the commission must be careful not to open itself “to be hijacked by others and be used as a forum for their personal missions.”
The criminal justice committeee also expressed concern about the adequacy of scientific practices used in fire investigations, in light of Beyler’s report.
“The real issue is whether or not there are people in jail in Texas where junk science is being used and there is a cloud over this process because of the way people were replaced on this commission,” said state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston.
Ellis serves as a board chairman of the Innocence Project, a non-profit organization that seeks to exonerate wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system.
“Our principal concern for this commission is not the death penalty, it’s not the issue of Willingham’s ultimate guilt or innocence,” said Barry Scheck, co-director of the project.
