Here’s a news flash from the Innocence Project that left me both cheering and in tears:
The Texas State Bar filed a formal accusation of misconduct against the prosecutor in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 for the arson murder of his three young daughters. The bar accuses the former prosecutor, John H. Jackson, of obstruction of justice, making false statements and concealing evidence favorable to Willingham's defense, according to a disciplinary petition filed in Navarro County District Court this month.[1]
I was cheering because it is so rare that anyone takes action against any official in the criminal process who wrongfully assists in the conviction and execution of an innocent person. The U.S. Supreme Court blocks any litigation against prosecutors for murderous misconduct. I was crying because the man wrongfully convicted has long since been put to death.
Gov. Rick Perry refused to grant a stay requested by lawyers for Cameron Todd Willingham who had been convicted for setting a fire that killed his three daughters. His lawyers asked Perry to stay execution because a report by an independent arson expert found no evidence the fire was intentionally set.
Calling Willingham a “monster,” Perry replaced members of a commission that dared to review the finding of arson.
At the trial, a jailhouse informant testified that Willingham had admitted the crime and that the informant had not been promised anything by the prosecutor for his testimony. Later a letter surfaced in which the informant reminded the prosecutor of his promise of leniency on other charges.
For me, there are so many lessons. One is that innocent until proven guilty is more than a slogan. Another is that the people who are supposed to be enforcing the law are sometimes actually lawless, doing great harm. A third, is that independent outside investigation of the behavior of the police and the prosecutors is a crucial form of accountability in a democratic society. And a fourth is that it is important that independent groups have the courage to follow up and do their best to right those wrongs without being attacked because they are impartially investigating people whose job description makes them seem sacrosanct.
When she was told that the state bar was taking action, Willingham’s step-mother responded: “Who would have ever thought that all this corruption would happen in small-town America?"
There’s another stereotype that needs to go. The devil lurks in all communities and among people of all colors. Willingham incidentally was white. A decent, honest, law enforcement system is important to all of us without regard to race, sex, faith or any other aspects of our background. And if they could do that to a white family, what kind of justice do we think our African-American brothers and sisters are getting.
To me this is a reflection of the problems we have been addressing with respect to police killing of unarmed people, even a child recently, and the Supreme Court’s indifference to injustice in what should be a system of criminal justice, not a system of official lynching. We need to be willing to see and stop misbehavior wherever it happens.
[1] See https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/03/18/willingham-prosecutor-accused-of-misconduct and http://www.innocenceproject.org/news-events-exonerations/prosecutor-in-willingham-case-faces-misconduct-charges?utm_source=Main+IP+Email+List&utm_campaign=3a08bbb832-2015_February_Newsletter_02272015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_016cb74fd6-3a08bbb832-350279237
Steve Gottlieb is Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor of Law at Albany Law School and author of Morality Imposed: The Rehnquist Court and Liberty in America. He has served on the Board of the New York Civil Liberties Union, and in the US Peace Corps in Iran.
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