A Trial By Fire: More And More About The Judicial System

After reading part of “A Trial by Fire” I found myself wondering more and more about the judicial system. In the piece it talked about the trial of Cameron Todd Willingham and how he had allegedly killed his children by setting his house on fire. With the sloppy work of the fire investigators and lab work done, I began to wonder how many other cases had gone through the same thing and how many other people were wrongly convicted. In the Willingham case, he was found innocent after he had been put to death. That was one person who did nothing wrong and told the truth and still the law was not on his side. He was found guilty of three counts of murder. With the way the governor handled this case, I believe it was more political than actually about having justice. Ironically, there were about three other cases on the west coast that had some of the same characteristics as the Willingham case. Most having fathers escape a blaze while having their children trapped inside their home. Rather than just having Mr. Willingham wait on death row and the courts not having any further interest in his case, I believe that the state of Texas is at fault for the wrongful conviction of an innocent man. Since Willingham was having someone outside of the initial investigation take a look at his case and the evidence that was gathered at his home (the crime scene), the state of Texas should have extended his execution date until the investigation was concluded.