Texas state board says arson investigators used flawed science - CNN.com

Texas state board says arson investigators used flawed science

By the CNN Wire Staff

July 23, 2010 8:56 p.m. EDT

 

(CNN) -- A Texas state board said Friday that arson investigators used flawed science but were not negligent in an investigation that led to a controversial 2004 execution.
The panel also said that investigators did not commit misconduct.

Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004, 13 years after a fire killed his three daughters. Prosecutors argued that Willingham deliberately set the 1991 blaze -- but three reviews of the evidence by outside experts have found the fire should not have been ruled arson.

The last of those reports was ordered by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which has been looking into Willingham's execution since 2008. A September 2009 shake-up by Texas Gov. Rick Perry kept that panel from reviewing the report.
 

But on Friday, the panel declared that investigators were using the science available to them at the time, even though it was flawed. The board said it would present its final report for a vote at a meeting in October.
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Texas state board says arson investigators used flawed science - CNN.com