Former chief says forensic science inquiry should proceed

The former chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission on Wednesday challenged his successor’s statements that the agency must first adopt new rules and procedures before proceeding with an inquiry to determine if a faulty arson investigation led to the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.

“Though the Commission might benefit in the long term from development of written standards, I do not believe that this should result in paralysis of Commission activity,” said Sam Bassett, an Austin defense attorney who led the nine-member commission before Gov. Rick Perry replaced him on Sept. 30. “The Commission doesn’t need to evolve into a large, bureaucratic State agency to carry out its mission.”

The inquiry stalled after Perry replaced four commission members, including Bassett. The new chairman, Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, told the state Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday that he is prepared to resume the inquiry but said the revamped commission must first adopt new rules and procedures before proceeding, raising uncertainty about when the case will be completed.

“What may have been lost in the discussion of ‘rules and procedures’ is that the statute creating the Commission requires investigation of complaints to occur ‘in a timely manner,’” Bassett said in a press release. “Two of the complaints the Commission unanimously voted to investigate were filed in 2006. The idea that the Commission will likely conclude these investigations in 2011 or beyond is far from timely. Texas deserves better.”

Willingham was executed after he was convicted of setting a house fire in Corsicana that killed his three daughters in 1991. Nine fire experts have concluded that the arson investigation was flawed, raising the possibility the fire was accidental. One of the experts, Craig Beyler, was hired by the commission to examine the case; he had been scheduled to appear before the panel on Oct. 2, but the hearing was scrapped after the membership shakeup.

Bradley said Beyler’s report would be part of the inquiry but he declined to say if the commission would resurrect its plans to hear testimony from the Baltimore fire expert.

Bassett said he disagrees with Bradley’s assertions that there was “no process in place to ensure integrity” in the Willingham case. He said the commission had planned to question Beyler and then hear opposing viewpoints from the State Fire Marshal’s Office and the City of Corsicana.

“In my view, it was critical that the Commission consider all sides of the issue before beginning work on its final report,” he said.

Bassett also said he believes the commission, created in 2005, “has more than adequate resources to do its work” in overseeing the use of forensic science in criminal investigations.
By Dave Montgomery in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram>