Stop me if you've heard this before...

It seems that no matter how hard it tries, the Houston Police Department Crime Lab just can't keep itself out of the news. Peter Lentz worked as an analyst at the crime lab from 2012 until earlier this year when he resigned - after he was caught lying, using improper procedures and tampering with a government document.

Oops.

In every case in which an analyst testifies - from DWI cases to capital murder cases - the testimony reveals that the crime lab was certified by ASCLD and by the Texas Department of Public Safety. This testimony is supposed to convince jurors that the test results are accurate. Yet somehow the parade of problems continues.

Mr. Lentz worked on 185 cases, including 51 capital murder cases. The Harris County District Attorney's Office did send out a letter notifying defense attorneys about the issue after it arose as they should. In many of these cases there is still material that can be retested. However, the fact that Mr. Lentz was able to do what he did as long as he did it should raise serious questions about oversight at the HPD Crime Lab.

If the lab can pass its annual audits year after year but we still have problems with analysts making shit up, then there is something wrong with the audit process. Too much of the audit consists of a supervisor reviewing a file and signing off on the test results if all the paperwork is in order. There is no random retesting of material.

The list of past sins at the crime lab is well known in criminal defense circles. The lab has undergone numerous re-openings, re-toolings and re-marketing campaigns over the years. Nothing works. The culture at the crime lab is still - and seemingly always will be - to produce the best possible evidence for the government.

Because the mission of the crime lab is to assist the government in prosecuting cases, lab managers will never probe into the actual testing of material. What purpose would that serve? So long as the test results that come from 1201 Travis help prosecutors obtain convictions there is no reason for managers to do more oversight into the lab's operations.

While the misdeeds of Mr. Lentz only directly affect those cases on which he worked, the stench should cover each and every test result that comes from the HPD Crime Lab. When a culture is so ingrained in an institution that we keep coming across these stories year after year, that culture affects everyone who works in the crime lab.

As a postscript to the story, the Harris County District Attorney's Office presented evidence of Mr. Lentz' misdeeds to a grand jury that declined to indict the former analyst. My question is why was Devon Anderson's office allowed to present that case to the grand jury when almost every test conducted in the HPD Crime Lab (if not every test) is produced for the DA's Office?

There is a clear conflict of interest in allowing the Harris County DA's Office to investigate this matter. Ms. Anderson's office has an incentive not to prosecute Mr. Lentz as such a prosecution could put into question every test conducted at the HPD Crime Lab. By sweeping the matter under the rug, the DA's Office can pretend that Mr. Lentz was a "lone wolf" and that his actions aren't an indictment on the entire crime lab.

More problems for the HPD Crime Lab

Could the news be any better for the Houston Police Department Crime Lab? After having its DNA lab shut down due to faulty storage and testing issues and after cutting loose a technical supervisor who had the nerve to say that the intoxilyzers in HPD's batvans were faulty, now comes word that an analyst has been cut loose for not following procedures.

According to this story from KRIV-26 in Houston, an analyst who had been with the lab for two years resigned in mid-March amid allegations he (or she) mishandled evidence. The situation was so bad that Irma Rios, the lab's director, wrote in a memo that she would not recommend the worker be rehired.

Unfortunately the station declined to name the analyst leaving us all in the dark as to who mishandled the evidence and whose cases were affected. None of the local news operations seem to have any qualms about putting the names of those arrested for alleged criminal activity all over the television and newspaper, but heaven forbid we publish the name of a crime lab analyst whose work may have tainted dozens or more criminal cases.

Interestingly enough the resignation of this analyst and the sudden departure of Michael Manes, the lab manager at the HPD crime lab, seem to have fallen into the same window of time. Mr. Manes, who had been with the lab in its various incarnations for around 30 years, has left the building and is now working in Montgomery County with the Sheriff's Office or as a forensic-analyst-for-hire depending on who you talk to.

It's all a bit interesting considering that a current case of mine has a lab report that was Mr. Manes performed the technical review (looking at the paperwork) last summer but was was suddenly re-reviewed by a new supervisor in mid-March with no apparent explanation.

This latest incident is just one more reason that crime labs need to be taken out of the hands of the police departments and be run as independent labs with no loyalty to any agency or office. If the purpose of scientific evidence is to get us closer to the truth, then we need to end this cozy arrangement between crime labs and law enforcement agencies.

Mayor wants to build new crime lab

Harris County already has a crime lab. It's called the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. It was created out of the old medical examiner's office. They have a brand new building and a staff of anthropologists, forensic pathologists and lab techs in various forensic fields.

The City of Houston, on the other hand, only has the long discredited HPD Crime Lab.

But now Annise Parker wants a crime lab of her own. She wants to create an "independent" crime lab headed up by an assortment of political appointees to oversee the testing of evidence in criminal investigations. She'll need a building and a staff as well as a board of appointees fitting every possible demographic.

Mayor Parker wants someone from an Innocence Project-type group on the board. Council member Larry Green wants someone from the NAACP or LULAC. And, so we don't forget the wingnut crowd, Michael Sullivan wants representatives from law enforcement, so-called victims' rights groups and Parents of Murdered Children.

Excuse me, Mr. Sullivan, the crime lab's only customer will be law enforcement. They will provide the expert witnesses at trial. They will bend the truth any way they can to convince that jury that the defendant is guilty as charged.

Any crime lab should be independent of law enforcement. The testing of evidence should be an exercise in science, not politics. The only agenda the board running the lab should have is how to improve the science.

With the IFS already up and running, there is no need for the city to build its own crime lab. The city should contract with the IFS to handle any evidence testing for HPD. Running two crime labs would be a tremendous waste of resources. There are better uses for city money than duplicating the services the county already provides.

So, Mayor Parker, just let it go.

H/T Grits for Breakfast

Runaway grand jury closes up shop

Yesterday the grand jury investigating the Harris County District Attorney's Office announced that it was not issuing any indictments. The news was greeted with a big yawn by folks around the Criminal (In)justice Center.

The grand jury foreman, Trisha Pollard, said the grand jury didn't find any evidence of a crime but that they were troubled by the actions of the DA's office. They singled out Rachel Palmer for her refusal to answer questions pursuant to her rights under the Fifth Amendment.

Left unsaid is why special prosecutors didn't offer Ms. Palmer immunity in exchange for her testimony. They went so far as to file a motion to compel her testimony that was denied by the judge. They claimed that none of the questions they wanted to ask were incriminating; but when given a choice between having Ms. Palmer answer the questions under a grant of immunity or not asking the questions at all - they chose to keep their mouths shut.

What information did they seek from Ms. Palmer? And if it was so damn important to the investigation that they were more than willing to ignore the Bill of Rights, why didn't they offer her immunity?

Whatever. Now Pat Lykos will stand up and declare victory and the Mike Anderson forces will stare down at their toes. The fact is the investigation is a black eye on Ms. Lykos and her administration. And, no matter how you want to spin it, Ms. Lykos and her office did their best to stonewall the investigation. That also doesn't bode well for a person who has the ethical duty to see that justice is done.

Given the public's notoriously short attention span and the fact that we don't know when the primary will be held, there's a good possibility that most of the folks in Harris County are going to forget all about this little affair before they step into the voting booth.

I'm not so certain that anyone in the DA's Office broke the law in the BATmobile fiasco. Withholding exculpatory evidence is a Brady violation and, at best, could get you a new trial - unless the error was determined to be (wait for it) harmless. There is no monetary or criminal sanction for not turning information over to the defense that the defense doesn't know about.

As such, there was never the possibility of anyone being indicted for not giving up the goods. The only thing that would have bitten someone in the ass was lying under oath to the grand jury.

So, go on, there's nothing to see here.

Grand jury subpoenas top county officials in DWI probe

Remember that "runaway" grand jury investigating the HPD BATmobiles? Well, they're baaack...

The county judge and two commissioners have been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. It is believed that the grand jury is looking into the contract the county entered into with the Texas Department of Public Safety to administer breath test machines in Harris County. The county entered into the contract after Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos urged county commissioners to dump Lone Star College after former HPD crime lab technical supervisor Amy Culbertson spilled the beans on the malfunctioning breath test machines in HPD's BATmobiles.

First a word for those of y'all not from Texas. The county judge isn't really a judge, he's the head of the county government. The commissioners are the elected representatives who run the county.

Ostensibly, the reason for the change in maintaining the breath test machines was a cost-saving function. The county's contract with the DPS is $330,000 for the first year versus $342,000 with Lone Star College. But there's more to the calculation than that. Remember, DWI is big business in Texas and running the breath test program is no exception. For every DWI conviction obtained without the use of DPS technicians, the state reimburses the county $22. Doesn't sound like a lot on the surface but, between 2008 and 2010, the county was reimbursed $220,000 by the state. Do the math; the DPS contract will cost the county more money in the long run.

The change had nothing to do with saving the county money. The change was retaliation against Lone Star College for hiring Amy Culbertson after she left the Houston Police Department. The change was retaliation against Ms. Culbertson for testifying truthfully about the problems with the BATmobiles.

Ms. Lykos and her minions got caught withholding Brady material from defense attorneys handling DWI cases. Ms. Lykos has blamed Ms. Culbertson and she has blamed HPD for the fiasco. All of that is an attempt to deflect attention away from the actions of the Harris County DA's Office.

The plot thickens

It would appear that the shit has hit the fan over at 1201 Franklin.

Today, State District Judge Susan Brown appointed former prosecutors Stephen St. Martin and James Mount to serve as special prosecutors for the grand jury investigating the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

From the Houston Chronicle: 

The order appointing St. Martin and Mount, both former assistant district attorneys now in private practice, states that grand jurors are investigating “possible criminal conduct by members of the Harris County district attorney’s office.”

“After considering the grand jury’s request and the applicable law, the court finds the Harris County District Attorney and her office are disqualified from participating in the grand jury’s investigation,” Brown wrote.

Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos manages her office through fear and intimidation (just read Murray Newman's posts on the warm and fuzzy feelings that Ms. Lykos evokes on the 6th floor). That might work on her staff - after all, with the current economic climate, hanging out your own shingle is a scary prospect - but it doesn't work with people outside the office.

Ms. Lykos is upset with Amanda Culbertson. She is upset with the Houston Police Department. Okay, I get it, but retaliating against Ms. Culbertson by subjecting her to a grand jury investigation was going a bit too far. Ms. Lykos' need for total control and her intolerance toward dissent may very well end up haunting her between now and next year's election - if she manages to hold on that long. Fear does not breed loyalty - and that's something Ms. Lykos should think about as the investigation continues.

This is not going to end well for Ms. Lykos and her minions.

Runaway jury

The original purpose of the grand jury was to have a body that could review a case to determine if there was enough evidence to proceed. The grand jury met in secret and if they chose to no-bill a case, no one ever knew the case had ever been considered.

The grand jury's role was to act as a check on the state in its prosecution of citizens accused of breaking the law. Over the years the grand jury has become a de facto rubber stamp for prosecutors. If the District Attorney wanted a case indicted, it was. If he wanted a case to go away because it was too hot a potato, all he had to do was let the grand jury know it was okay to no-bill it.

But someone, in Houston, a grand jury actually decided to take matters into its own hands. The grand jury was convened to consider whether anyone did something untoward regarding HPD's batmobile breath test machines.

You see, Amanda Culbertson kind of embarrassed Pat Lykos and her minions when she pointed out to her superiors in the HPD Crime Lab that the breath test machines in the batmobiles weren't, shall we say, very accurate or reliable. Then, to make matters worse, Ms. Culbertson testified under subpoena in a case and repeated her assertions that the breath tests conducted in the vans weren't all they were cracked up to be.

In the process of conducting its investigation, the grand jurors made it known that prosecutors weren't welcome in the room. Needless to say, this did not go over very well with Ms. Lykos. The DA's office asked the court of appeals to order the grand jurors to let prosecutors into the room but the appellate court thanked Ms. Lykos for playing but that she was not getting into the room - even if she said "pretty please or I'll indict someone's mother."

It stands to reason that the grand jurors are taking a hard look at the conduct of the DA's office in this entire sordid affair. Maybe someone gets indicted. Maybe (probably) not. But, I think it reasonable to assume that the grand jury is not going to indict Ms. Culbertson on some trumped up charge of telling the truth on the witness stand even thought it makes it harder for the state to prosecute motorists for driving while intoxicated.

Ms. Lykos has apparently forgotten that her ethical duty as a prosecutor isn't to coerce pleas or obtain convictions - it is to do justice. And that's even if it means dismissing cases because the machines used by law enforcement can't be relied upon to do what they are supposed to do.



H/T Murray Newman

Ask not for whom the whistle blows

For the past two decades the breath alcohol testing program in Harris County was run by Lone Star College (formerly North Harris Montgomery College). But no longer.

Yesterday Harris County commissioners voted to award the contract to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos has been accused of pressuring commissioners to make the change in retaliation to Lone Star's hiring of Amanda Culbertson as a technical supervisor.

Ms. Culbertson, as you may remember, testified this summer about problems with the Houston Police Department's breath testing vans. She testified after being subpoenaed by a local defense attorney (and served by my brother). In her testimony she alleged that the higher-ups in the HPD crime lab had turned the lab into a hostile work environment because she dared to speak up about the problems.

County commissioners did Ms. Lykos no favors by deferring responsibility for the change to Ms. Lykos. She might want to get the license plate number of the bus she was thrown under.

Knowing what I know about Ms. Lykos, I don't find it a stretch to believe that she was behind the move. It would appear to be par for the course (for more on Ms. Lykos and her gang that can't shoot straight, check out Murray Newman's Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center blog).

The other day I wrote that I had a few problems with local criminal defense attorneys coming to Ms. Culbertson's defense. I still find it disturbing and short-sighted. Ms. Culbertson was a true-believer until she ran across problems with the batmobiles that she couldn't defend.

But, Ms. Culbertson was not a whistleblower. She never went to the media to let them know about problems with the breath test machines in the vans. She never volunteered that information at trial. The only reason she testified about those problems in open court was because Dane Johnson had made an open records request and had obtained e-mails documenting the problems. She had no choice but to testify that the machines were unreliable in that environment.

If Ms. Culbertson left HPD because she felt intimidated for raising questions about the batmobiles, then it's shame on HPD for allowing it to happen. But if we're supposed to be up in arms because the county decided not to renew the contract with Lone Star, let me off the train. It would seem that we're forgetting that what the government giveth, the government taketh away.

When your job depends on government largesse, you must understand that what's here today may be long gone tomorrow. So maybe it was retaliation and maybe it wasn't. That's just politics.

The wreckage of the batmobile

I've written at length about the problems with the Houston Police Department's BATmobiles and I've written about the departure of every technical supervisor from HPD's "Crime Lab." It would appear that our stories have intersected.

Amanda Culbertson, the former technical supervisor for HPD's breath test machines, told a judge on Thursday that she and the others left the city's employ because of their concerns with the BATmobile program. Ms. Culbertson said that she left because she feared retaliation from HPD over her criticism of the program.

According to the Houston Chronicle's Brian Rogers:

[Amanda Culbertson] and others worked to train technicians to keep air conditioning units on to regulate the temperature of the breath machine that measures blood alcohol levels in suspected drunken drivers. She also said an electrical glitch that was never fixed meant the sophisticated measuring machines would reset every time the van's air conditioner was turned on. 

She said she supported the idea of a mobile testing site, but that HPD did not work to maintain the accuracy of the test results. 

"In theory it's a great idea, but it depends on who is in charge of the environmental conditions," Culbertson said.

If Ms. Culbertson's story is true, I would like to know whether the folks charged with DWI who blew into machines in the BATmobiles were informed of her concerns over the accuracy of the test results. The prosecutors, as to be expected, threw up their arms and told the judge they had no knowledge of any of this.

As an aside, the article notes that the attorneys subpoenaed Ms. Culbertson after she finished testifying in another court. Well, that's not exactly true. While the attorneys may have drafted the subpoena, Ms. Culbertson was served by none other than my brother, Dan, who is a private investigator and process server.

And this brings us back to the bigger issue - why are the labs running these tests and maintaining these machines operated by the same folks who are out there arresting motorists for driving while intoxicated? There can be no objectivity in such a setting. What does it say when the person in charge of the machines feels so threatened by her employer that she walks away from her job? If the folks in charge of the crime lab were interested in the quality of the science, why would they ignore the concerns of Ms. Culbertson?

The folks in charge should have been happy that she came to them with her concerns. They should have welcomed the opportunity to correct problems with the program. Instead, because she wouldn't stick to the script, they ran her off.

This is not to absolve Ms. Culbertson from blame, however. If she was aware of the problems back in 2009, why wasn't she testifying that she had grave concerns over the accuracy of breath tests conducted in the BATmobiles? Why wait until she's taken another job as a technical supervisor overlooking machines used in the county?

The mission of science is to discover the truth. Science is misused when it's made to fit the facts of the state's case.

And then there were none

First it was Jano Chu who left back in the fall of 2010.

Then it was Jorge Wong's turn to go in March.

And now Amanda Culbertson is heading out the door.

Maybe it's something in the water over there at 1200 Travis that's causing area Technical Supervisors to flee for other grounds.

City to spend $3 million to study police fingerprint unit

Updating a post from earlier this month about problems with the Houston Police Department's fingerprint unit, Houston City Council has approved $3 million (out of a request for $4 million) to pay consultants to review some 5,000 violent crime cases that have already been reviewed once. After that there are thousands of other cases involving violent and property crimes to be reviewed. Outside consultants have been running the fingerprint unit since the results of the audit conducted this fall were released.

While HPD was thrilled to be showered with taxpayer dollars, one city councilman was a bit more concerned about the situation.

Said Peter Brown: "If something is going wrong here, what else is going wrong in the Houston Police Department?"

I concur with Mr. Brown. Maybe now is the time to explore the creation of a regional forensic lab that is not under the control of law enforcement.

Isn't it ironic, don't you think?

There are some things you just can't make up. In Houston today, a fire broke out in the HPD Crime Lab. Speculation is the "product" that caught fire was exculpatory evidence.

Firefighters rushed to Houston police headquarters downtown today to extinguish what turned out to be a small fire on the 26th floor, Houston Fire Chief Phil Boriskie said.

No injuries were reported. Some sort of "product" caught fire around 1:30 p.m., said Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief K.J. Alexander. It was quickly extinguished.

Workers were evacuated from the 24th, 25th and 26th floors. At least a dozen fire vehicles responded to the high-rise call at the intersection of Travis and Polk, and HFD hazardous material crews remained on site to figure out how to clean up.

The HPD crime lab is on the 26th floor. It wasn't immediately clear how much, if any, damage was done there.

Same song, different verse

Stop me if this sounds all-to familiar... a man, after spending decades in prison, based on forensic evidence examined and evaluated by the Houston Police Department Crime Lab, is eliminated as a suspect by independent forensic testing.

"This is yet another reason why we need an independent crime lab. How many more reasons will it take?" -- Pat Lykos, Harris County District Attorney

Gary Alvin Richard was convicted of rape and robbery in 1987 based, in large part, on testimony from James Bolding, a supervisor in the HPD Crime Lab. Ironically enough, an analyst named Christy Kim performed the lab tests. Ms. Kim was also the analyst who tested samples in the Josiah Sutton case (Mr. Sutton has since been exonerated). It turns out that the crime lab withheld exculpatory evidence that could have led to Mr. Richard's acquittal.

The victim identified Mr. Richard some seven months after the attack took place. Lab tests apparently came back with differing conclusions but only test results that confirmed Mr. Richard as the attacker were reported.

Mr. Richard's attorney, Bob Wickoff, is leading an investigation into 160 cases an independent investigator flagged as problematic.

This case, as well as other exonerations, points out what can go wrong when an investigation is tailored to prove a certain person committed an act. Of course it's always more efficient to start with your conclusion and cherry-pick the facts that lead you to it. However, it's much more intellectually honest to test the evidence and follow the trail to where it leads you.

Giving credit where credit is due

Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos blasted the Houston Police Department and her predecessor for their roles in the wrongful conviction and imprionment of Ricardo Rachell, who was exonerated in a sexual assault after DNA was (finally) performed on samples taken back in 2002. Mr. Rachell spent more than five years in prison.

Ms. Lykos called for DNA testing in every case in which testing is available and relevant. In addition, Ms. Lykos repeated her call for the shuttering of the HPD Crime Lab and the creation of a regional crime lab, possibly under the auspices of the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office.  The National Academy of Sciences called for the creation of regional crime labs in a recent report exposing problems in today's forensic sciences.

County Judge Ed Emmett, Houston Mayor Bill White and HPD Chief Harold Hurtt all expressed support for the proposal.

Mr. Rachell proclaimed his innocence before, during and after his trial, even going so far as to blame Andrew Wayne Hawthorne for the assaults. Mr. Hawthorne has since been charged with the assault. The DNA testing performed on the rape kit from 2002 excluded Mr. Rachell and pointed toward Mr. Hawthorne.

Ms. Lykos deserves credit for acknowledging that there are innocent people serving time in prison. She likewise deserves credit for her proposal to take the crime lab out of HPD's jurisdiction and put it under a department with no stake in the outcome of a criminal case.

Forensic "science" under fire

According to the New York Times, a report to be issued this month by the National Academy of Sciences will be a "sweeping critique" of many forensic methods, such as fingerprint analysis, firearms identification, bite mark and blood spatter analysis, used in crime labs across the country.

According to a draft copy of the report, these analyses often are conducted by poorly trained lab workers who then testify to exaggerated accuracy of their methods. The report will call on Congress to establish a federal agency to ensure the independence of forensic analysis, most of which is conducted in labs under the control or authority of law enforcement agencies.

I'm sure that every defense attorney in the country is waiting for this report to come out. There are going to be challenges to fingerprints and firearms evidence and the general lack of empirical grounding. It's going to be big. -- Unnamed source

The F.B.I. had to shutter its bullet identification program after the pseudo-science behind the analysis was discredited. The F.B.I. was forced to notify hundreds of citizens who may have been convicted wrongfully as a result of the "evidence."

The Innocence Project turned over the results of a study performed on the trial transcripts of 137 convictions that were later overturned. In 60% of those cases, false or misleading statements were made regarding blood, hair, bite mark, shoe print, fiber and fingerprint analysis.

According to Stanford University scientist Donald Kennedy, who helped choose the authors of the report, the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the Department of "Justice," refused to finance the study -- because they knew what it would conclude. Congress later voted to provide $1.5 million to fund the project.

"My hope is that this report will provide an objective and unbiased perspective of the critical needs of our crime labs." -- Sen. Richard Shelby (R. Alabama)

Here are a few examples of the sad state of forensic scientific analysis:

• The H.P.D. Crime Lab was shuttered due to a series of scandals. An independent auditor authored a report in 2007 severely criticizing the practices and procedures followed by the lab.


• Dee Wallace, a contractor with the Texas D.P.S., who testified in support of the state's breath test program falsified documents regarding maintenance work she never performed on the machines under her control. The Galveston County District Attorney's Office recently had to mail out notices to over 2,000 citizens whose DWI convictions may have been tainted by Ms. Wallace's criminal acts.


• Forensic "scientist" Joyce Gilchrist who was fired by the Oklahoma City Police Department after it came to light that she faked test results, falsified reports, lied on the witness stand and withheld exculpatory evidence.

To her credit, Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos has called for the creation of a regional crime lab independent of law enforcement.

As long as forensic analysis is conducted at "crime labs" operated by law enforcement agencies, there will be pressure on analysts to make their findings and conclusions fit the "facts" as determined by the police. Until these labs are divorced from law enforcement, their findings and conclusions will be under suspicion.

Is the State of Texas guilty of murder?

In 2004, Cameron Willingham, a Corsicana auto mechanic convicted of setting the fire that killed his 1-year-old twins and 2-year-old stepdaughter, was executed by the State of Texas. Today, 17 years after the fire, there are questions regarding his conviction.

Mr. Willingham went to his death proclaiming his innocence. Rick Perry, the Texas governor, and state judges, ignored a report from Mr. Gerald Hurst, a prominent fire scientist, that questioned the conclusions of the state's expert witness at Mr. Willingham's trial.

At Willingham's trial, Deputy State Fire Marshal Manuel Vasquez, now deceased, testified that he concluded the fire was set deliberately due to "pour patterns" and "puddle configurations" on the floor. He also testified that his determination that the fire had originated in three locations solidified his opinion that the deadly fire was the result of arson. He also accused Mr. Willingham of lying to him during the investigation.

As a result of an investigation by The Innocence Project, a panel of national fire experts stated that the expert testimony in Mr. Willingham's trial was based on outdated and invalid investigative methods.

Mr. Alan Levy, a member of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, created in response to the scandal involving the Houston Police Department Crime Lab, told Mr. Gabriel Oberfield of The Innnocence Project that the state of science regarding arson was "dismal." Regardless of the standards at the time of Mr. Willingham's conviction, the techniques and methods used by forensic experts had improved by the time of his execution.

Investigators from The Innocence Project concluded that the evidence found at the site was consistent with a "flashover" caused by the intense heat inside the house at the time of the fire. Investigators also found that Mr. Vasquez' contention that the fire had started in three separate locations was incorrect -- the locations Mr. Vasquez spoke of were contiguous. The investigators also contend that the only way to determine if an accelerant was used is to conduct laboratory tests on residue from the scene -- something that was not done during the initial police investigation.

John Jackson, the Navarro County District Attorney at the time of Mr. Willingham's trial, is now a state district judge and offered no comment to Mr. Allan Turner, a reporter for The Houston Chronicle. Mr. Jackson had an ethical duty as a prosecutor to seek justice -- that is, a legal duty, not to sentence someone to die for a crime he did not commit. Employing junk science to obtain a conviction is a breach of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.

The Texas Forensic Science Committee decided not to hire an investigator to look into the Willingham case at this time but they did ask the State Fire Marshal's Office to prepare a response to The Innocence Project's allegations.

I have little doubt that Mr. Willingham was not the first innocent citizen executed by the Texas death machine -- and he may not be the last. It is time to put an end to state-sanctioned murder because one you've put that needle in the vein, it's too late to say "Oops!"