11 May 2006 :

4 of the nation's top arson experts have concluded that the state of Texas executed a man based on scientifically invalid evidence, and they called for an official re-investigation of the case.
In a report the experts, assembled by the Innocence Project, a non-profit organization that has helped free dozens of wrongly convicted inmates based on DNA evidence.
concluded that the conviction and 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham for the Dec. 23, 1991 arson murders of his 3 daughters was based on interpretations by fire investigators that have been scientifically disproved.
The 3 girls -- 2-year-old Amber Kuykendall and 1-year-old twins Kameron and Karmen Willingham -- were killed in the fire that their father was convicted of intentionally starting on.
They say that each indicator of arson cited by a fire marshal in the prosecution “means absolutely nothing".
"Scientific evidence supports the conclusion that an innocent man was executed based on unreliable science," said Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project.
The investigation was led by John Lentini, a 32-year fire investigator and author of the 2006 textbook "Scientific Protocols for Fire Investigation." The other experts were Daniel Churchward, chairman of the National Fire Protection Association's technical committee on fire investigations; David Smith, a 35-year fire investigator; and Douglas Carpenter, a mechanical engineer and fire and explosion investigator.
Read the Innocence Project report at www.innocenceproject.org.