by Morgan Smith, The Texas Tribune
October 19, 2010
Two weeks before the gubernatorial election, the season premiere of PBS’s Frontline features a timely topic: the Cameron Todd Willingham case — and despite initial hesitation, all public broadcasting stations in Texas will air it.
When Texas PBS stations originally learned the episode of the nationally syndicated show would run so close to Election Day, some expressed concern over how the public might perceive the decision to show the hourlong documentary on the highly controversial case, which raises the question of whether Texas executed an innocent man, according to Bill Moll, the general manager of San Antonio’s KLRN. But after reviewing and discussing its content with Frontline producers, Moll said, “We felt that there was no motive that has anything to do with the election; it just kind of hits where it hits.”
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by Brandi Grissom, The Texas Tribune
October 5, 2010
[Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect additional comments from Judge Charlie Baird.]
Fifteen years ago, Judge Charlie Baird was one of the justices on the state’s highest criminal court who reaffirmed Cameron Todd Willingham’s death sentence. Now a state district judge, Baird is scheduled on Wednesday to begin a process that could determine that the conviction — and Willingham’s execution — were mistakes. And the prosecution objects.
Lawyers for Willingham’s family are set to take their high-profile fight to exonerate the executed arsonist to a new venue today. They’ve asked Baird to convene a court of inquiry to determine whether Willingham was wrongfully convicted, and whether state officials committed a crime when they executed the Corsicana man despite evidence casting doubt on his guilt. Baird agreed to hold a hearing to determine the need for such a court to investigate the case. But Navarro County District Attorney R. Lowell Thompson, whose office originally convicted Willingham, says Baird’s impartiality is tainted by his previous ruling in the case, and his own beliefs about the death penalty. “Therefore he should recuse himself or be disqualified,” Thompson writes in a motion seeking to disqualify Baird. Thompson argues that the hearing should be put on hold until a decision on the motion is made. But the hearing remained scheduled as of late Tuesday.
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