At the request of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, Jeff Blackburn, chief counsel for the Innocence Project of Texas is examining over one thousand arson cases to weed out any that might be based on the same bad forensic science that was used in the conviction of Cameron Todd Willingham.
Willingham was executed in 2004 despite egregious problems with the evidence used in his conviction. The Commission does not have direct jurisdiction to re-investigate cases and so it asked Blackburn to partner with the State Fire Marshall’s office to determine if there are any people currently incarcerated on discredited science.
Blackburn updated the Commission on his preliminary findings at their quarterly meeting in July. He says that his staff will be able to get through all the cases by next spring and he estimates singling out 10-15 cases for closer review by a panel of fire science experts.
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