On 3/21/15 6:51 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/21/2015 6:13 PM, Keyser Söze wrote:
Rick Perry executed a father of three after a Texas prosecutor hid
evidence proving him innocent

Earlier this month, the state bar of Texas filed a misconduct charge
against a prosecutor who obtained a conviction in one of the country’s
most controversial death penalty cases, accusing him of hiding evidence
that could have exonerated a father of murder.

The filing alleges that John Jackson withheld evidence that could have
proved the innocence of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in
2004 for the murder of his three young daughters after they died in a
house fire in 1991.

“Before, during, and after the 1992 trial, [Jackson] knew of the
existence of evidence that tended to negate the guilt of Willingham, and
failed to disclose that evidence to defense counsel,” the charge reads.

According to the complaint, Jackson also lied to the court saying that
he had no evidence that could help Willingham’s defense.


Despite mounting concern that Willingham was innocent, the former Texas
governor Rick Perry refused to stay his execution. In 2009, after an
investigation by the Texas Forensic Science Commission found that the
arson evidence was faulty, Perry replaced the board’s chairman and two
other members and called Willingham “a monster.”

The execution was briefly a contentious topic during Perry’s bid for the
Republican nomination for the 2012 US presidential election. During a
debate, Perry was asked whether the possibility of having executed an
innocent person made it hard for him to sleep at night. “No, sir, I’ve
never struggled with that at all,” replied Perry, now a possible
Republican presidential candidate again.

http://tinyurl.com/mzg3ojg


I am no fan of Rick Perry (and I am not a fan of the death penalty) but
he didn't execute Willingham. The state of Texas executed him after
many appeals and petitions including two the the US Supreme Court. As
part of the extensive appeal process, Perry refused clemency.

A contributing factor in his sentencing was a long history of violence
and abusive behavior for which he was determined to be both guilty and
unable to be rehabilitated. Neighbors testified that as the house he
set on fire started burning (which killed his kids) Willingham was
observed crouching in the front yard, watching it burn.

He also confessed to a fellow inmate while in prison and going through
the appeals process that he was guilty.

To use one questionable procedural issue by the prosecution to cast
a negative and sensational slant on Perry for political purposes in a
presidential campaign cyccle is about as dishonest as you can get.

http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/willingham899.htm



Oh, there are lots of reasons to cast negative doubts on Rick Perry's
presidential aspirations.

The issue is that the prosecutor didn't play by the rules in a capital
case, and that Rick Perry knew this, and did nothing.

Perry could have stopped the execution, but didn't.



--
Proud to be a Liberal.