Innocent man killed by state?

Texas may have put innocent man to death, panel told

With Texas' criminal justice system the subject of intense scrutiny for a crime lab scandal and a series of wrongful convictions, a state Senate committee heard testimony Tuesday about the possibility that Texas had experienced the ultimate criminal justice nightmare: the execution of an innocent person...read on!

Highlights:
- Cameron Todd Willingham was convicted of a December 1991 arson fire that killed his three young daughters

- Willingham was prosecuted and convicted based primarily on arson theories that have since been repudiated by scientific advances--a fact backed up by testimony by one of those experts, Gerald Hurst.

- Three other fire experts who reviewed evidence in the case at the Tribune's request, the original investigation that concluded the fire was arson was flawed, relying on theories no longer considered valid. It is even possible the fatal fire at the Willingham home in Corsicana, a small town about an hour south of Dallas, was accidental, according to the experts.

- Willingham maintained his innocence until the end. Strapped to a gurney in the death chamber last year, an angry Willingham said: "I am an innocent man, convicted of a crime I did not commit."