Cameron Todd Willingham, Texas, and the death penalty : The New Yorker (via jeffmiller) Texas executed an innocent man. And there was very little unusual about the process. The forensics that are usually bad were bad. Witness recollections changed in a predictable manner. The defense attorney at trial was not unusually bad. The lying jailhouse snitch was not unpredictably dishonest. And the junk psychiatry was no worse than in any other capital case. There was no gross misconduct. There was no perfect storm of incompetence. This could easily happen again.

Cameron Todd Willingham, Texas, and the death penalty : The New Yorker (via jeffmiller)

Texas executed an innocent man. And there was very little unusual about the process. The forensics that are usually bad were bad. Witness recollections changed in a predictable manner. The defense attorney at trial was not unusually bad. The lying jailhouse snitch was not unpredictably dishonest. And the junk psychiatry was no worse than in any other capital case. There was no gross misconduct. There was no perfect storm of incompetence. This could easily happen again.


Found via squashed. 14 Notes. Permalink.  Tue, Sep 1st 2009, 4:49 PM (∞).
  1. sds reblogged this from squashed and added:
    long read, but worth it.
  2. feinsodville reblogged this from peterwknox and added:
    This is the third time in two days that somebody has mentioned this article. I’m reblogging it as a reminder to myself...
  3. peterwknox reblogged this from hlewisallways
  4. hlewisallways reblogged this from squashed
  5. squashed reblogged this from jeffmiller
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