One court case I found unfair was one that we learned about in my sociology class at SPSCC. It is about Cameron Todd Willingham. He was accused of burning his house down with his three todler daughters inside. At first, the evidence was strongly against him. His story was that he was asleep and he woke up to his house on fire. He quickly ran out of the house and then remembered his children. He tried to go back and get them but he was stopped by a wall of fire. On his body, there were no indications of going back for the children. He had singed hair and his feet weren't even burned (He was barefoot). Also, the fact that he abuses his wife did not help him and the night after the fire, he got drunk and bragged that the money would start pouring in now. The investigations afterward stated that the burn pattern was in the star symbol that satanic worshipers use. They also found some sort of lighter fluid on the porch under the front door. Obviously he was proven guilty even though he stated he was innocent.
Cameron Todd WIllingham was put on death row for arson and the murder of his three young daughters. Still, he said he was innocent. I know, Mrs. G, this looks like a fair trial. So just hold on for a little bit, i'm getting to it. There was a breakthrough in the field of studying arson. And new and better ways were found to investigate arsons. Several arson experts now came in to the burnt house to investigate. They concluded that the fire was a flash fire. Where everything flammable just goes up in flame. They also said that the reason that Cameron's feet were not burned was because the fire wouldn't be on the ground at first. Heat rises. This conclusion was found less than a week before Cameron was to be executed. This evidence should have spared his life, but they would not dely the execution. Cameron was killed by injection. When the evidence the arson experts found should have saved his life.
