statement of stephen saloom, esq. innocence project policy director ...

STATEMENT OF STEPHEN SALOOM, ESQ.
INNOCENCE PROJECT POLICY DIRECTOR
REGARDING PETITION FOR POSTHUMOUS PARDON FOR
CAMERON TODD WILLINGHAM
OCTOBER 24, 2012
My name is Stephen Saloom. I am the Policy Director at the Innocence Project, and I
am here today because of my work with Ms. Willingham, Ms. Cox and Ms. Cavner
throughout the Texas Forensic Science Commission investigation of the arson evidence
in the cases of Cameron Todd Willingham and Ernest Willis. As you may know, both of
these men were convicted and sentenced to death based on the same forms of arson
evidence that are now universally recognized in the arson investigation community as
unreliable.
In fact, Texas recognized the unreliability of the arson evidence in Mr. Willis’s case,
after a prosecutor preparing for re-trial recognized this fact. The prosecutor properly did
his job and moved to vacate the conviction. Mr. Willis was ultimately not only
exonerated, but also compensated by the State of Texas for his wrongful conviction on
actual innocence grounds.
For a number of reasons, Texas never recognized the unreliability of the same arson
evidence in Mr. Willingham’s case, however, and he was executed on February 17,
2004.
I worked alongside Todd’s mother and cousins as the Texas Forensic Science
Commission investigated this inconsistency, and ultimately found the forms of arson
evidence used to convict Todd were unreliable. The Commission came to this belief for
a number of objective reasons, but perhaps primarily because it heard from nine of the
nation’s leading arson experts, all of whom clearly stated that the forms of arson
evidence used in Mr. Willingham’s case (as well as Mr. Willis’s case) were unreliable.
That Commission’s regard for the unreliable methods of determining arson – and those
scientists’ statements, which, by the way no credible expert has ever disagreed with –
established with clarity that there was no reason to believe that Cameron Todd
Willingham, who dearly loved his children, set fire to his house in order to murder them.
Given what we know today, to say otherwise would be a baseless and heinous
accusation.
In fact, as a result of the investigation it conducted, the Texas Forensic Science
Commission encouraged and facilitated the review of past Texas arson cases to see if
they, too, may have been tainted by the same unreliable forms of arson evidence. The
Office of the Texas Fire Marshal agreed to work with the Innocence Project of Texas on
a review of past arson cases, and it was recently reported that after a thorough
screening process there are now 26 cases being examined as also possible erroneous
convictions, based on unreliable arson evidence.

While I am a lawyer, my career is dedicated to criminal justice policy advocacy,
improving government practice. It is that role which brought me here today.
As the Innocence Project’s Policy Director, I became involved with this case because
the Innocence Project has learned from the nation’s 300 DNA exonerations about how
wrongful convictions happen. Our policy agenda is based on how we can prevent those
consistent causes of wrongful conviction from continuing to mislead police, prosecutors,
judges and juries into thinking that an innocent person is guilty beyond a reasonable
doubt of a serious crime he did not commit.
Invalid or improper forensic evidence contributed to roughly half of the nation’s 300
wrongful convictions proven by post-conviction DNA testing. The Innocence Project’s
allegations before the Texas Forensic Science Commission flow from our interest in
working with government to remedy the problems that contribute to wrongful
convictions.
The Innocence Project therefore became involved with Todd's case as a policy matter.
We wanted to be sure that the criminal justice system learned about the terrifyingly
misleading nature of those old, folklore-based forms of arson evidence, to fix those
problems, and thus both prevent future wrongful convictions and enable recognition and
remedy of the additional past wrongful convictions that may have occurred as a result of
such evidence being used. The Texas Forensic Science Commission has done a
tremendous amount on this point, and the Texas court system and State Fire Marshal’s
Office are responding in ways that should make everybody proud.
I am pleased to note that in that work, those agencies are seeking prevention, remedies
and justice - not scapegoats. The exact same applies to this petition for a posthumous
pardon for Cameron Todd Willingham. It seeks not to lay blame, but to do justice –
however delayed - in the wake of a terrible mistake.
Some might say “Why bother with a posthumous pardon? He's been executed. Nothing
can be done.”
To that I would simply say this. Something can be done. The government can officially
declare that it now realizes what it didn't previously - that the evidence it had relied upon
to declare Cameron Todd Willingham guilty, and to execute him, was mistaken.
For it is entirely true that what Cameron Todd Willingham cared about more than his
wrongful conviction, or his execution, was both that his three children died in a tragic
fire, and that he was then publicly blamed for being the one who intentionally killed
them.
I ask any parent listening - and this will be hard - to think about if all of your children
were killed in an accidental fire in which your life was spared. And then to think about
this as well - what if, after they died, investigators wrongfully asserted they had proof

that you killed them yourself, intentionally? And everyone believed it. And hated you
for it. And the state then declared you guilty and executed you for it. What would your
enduring wish be?
And what if, even after you died, the truth was finally recognized by everyone - except
the state that erroneously declared you guilty and executed you? Wouldn't you want
your reputation, and that of your family, cleared?
Most of us would like to leave this earth with some form of positive legacy when we die.
None of us, I'm sure, want our legacies to be the falsehood that we killed our own
children. Cameron Todd Willingham asked his family to clear his name, even if after his
execution. I have had the honor of standing with these three women, Eugenia
Willingham, Patricia Cox and Judy Cavner, as they have worked through the Texas
Forensic Science Commission to establish the unreliability of the arson evidence used
to convict Todd. In doing so, I have gotten to know them well, respect them immensely,
and been reminded that the first devastating tragedy they experienced was the death of
their three beloved little granddaughters/cousins, who perished in an accidental fire.
That tragedy was brutally compounded by the wrongful conviction and execution of their
son and cousin, Todd.
Knowing that, I stand with them in humble respect for their tireless pursuit to have
Texas declare the truth about Todd so that his name can be officially cleared.
I dearly hope that the Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Perry will honor
these realities, and extend a posthumous pardon to Cameron Todd Willingham.