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Todd Willingham Corsicana Case

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Recommended: Use of dna in criminal investigations

Before the advancements in science and DNA discovery, there have been many men and woman executed for a crime he/she did not commite. After DNA was discovered there have been cases where DNA has exonerated date row inmates. If DNA wasn't discovered many men and women would have been executed and if DNA testing was available earlier it would have easily proven that Cameron Todd Willingham, Corsicana, Texas was innocent. In 1992 Cameron Todd Willingham was founded guilty in Corsicana, Texas for setting a fire in his with his three daughters in the house. Willingham was able to escape from the fire but his daughters, unfortunately, did not stand a chance. After the firefighters were able to enter the house little girls were found dead in the …show more content…

One evidence that was presented in court was that "It was discovered that the fire was caused by a type of liquid accelerant" (Clarke, 2007). The first arson expert on the case attempts to the investigator the cause of the fire by tracing the fire to its points of origin and then found that the fire was caused by a liquid accelerant. “an accelerant is any substance or mixture that "accelerates" the development of fire. Accelerants are often used to commit arson, and some accelerants may cause an explosion” (Wikipedia.org/Fire_accelerant). Another was the fellow inmate, Johnny E. Webb, who testified that Willingham confessed to him that he was the one that set the fire with his daughters inside the house.However, "the acceptance of the testimony of his fellow inmate was controversial because this was a confession that was not really proven to be true (Williams, 2012). The inmate may have made up the story & lied in court I order to reduce his sentence. Johnny E. Webb was a drug addict and was on psychiatric medications. Never-less the inmate testimony was taken serious and Willingham was given the death penalty. “Evidence discovered years after the Willingham execution showed that the prosecution had given Webb favorable treatment, then deliberately elicited perjured testimony from

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Todd Willingham was convicted in December of 1991 for the deaths of his three young children in a house fire. Willingham told authorities the fire started when he and the children were asleep. The initial investigation, done by local fireman, revealed the fire was intentionally set with a flammable liquid. Questions regarding Todd’s innocence led to a second investigation by an arson expert. This investigation revealed that the fire was due to accidental causes and was not set on purpose.

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Johnny Webb was Tod’s jailmate and told the jury that Tod confessed to his crimes. This evidence was very shady because of his statement,”I don’t remember, you know what I’m saying. Something to put pressure on somebody to do something to get me out.” Johnny was a notorious liar and other evidence was found that after he gave his testimony, his sentence was shortened. Almost always, a prisoner will do anything to get their sentence shortened.

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Cameron Todd Willingham is not guilty of arson and therefore not responsible for the deaths of his three daughters. Todd is not guilty of arson and the death of his 3 daughters. In the documentary, experts say there is no proof of arson. Since it wasn't clear how the fire started, an arson expert came to investigate and said that there

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