Wrongfully Accused: A Lethal Mistake

808 Words2 Pages

In Corsicana, Texas Cameron Willingham and his family’s home was burned down the twenty-third of December is 1991. According to the report Cameron was asleep when the fire started and survived the accident with only a few injuries, as for his children they were not so lucky, they lost their lives to the tragic accident. At the time of the accident Cameron’s wife was buying presents for their children for Christmas. According to a witness and her Daughter Diane and Buffie from a few houses down went outside and saw Cameron screaming, “My babies are burning up!” Diane and Cameron tried countless attempts to rescue the girls from their room until the fire department could get there. According to the New Yorker “The house, in short, had been deliberately transformed onto a death trap.” According to the reports on December twenty-fourth and twenty-seventh of 1991 the fire was declared arson and they later decided to conduct a criminal investigation. Cameron was questioned by the investigators on December 31st and was then later arrested on January 8th of 1992 for the death his three daughters.
Following the arrest on January 8th of 1992 the trial began August 18, 1992. The state had two factors that played a part in trial. One being Johnny Everett Webb a fellow inmate, with Cameron Willingham in Navarro County Jail. The second major factor being testimonies from investigators Vasquez and Frogg on what they believed happened that night. The prosecutors believed that Cameron willingly tried to murder his children by setting his home on fire. Cameron Willingham never changed his story and always seemed to be innocent. Willingham was found guilty on the grounds of the testimony that the forensic experts gave at court because a former inm...

... middle of paper ...

...eemed so real. In conclusion the Texas government should have done a better job during this investigation and figured out it was an accident before an innocent man was executed.

Works Cited

"The Innocence Project - Cameron Todd Willingham: Wrongfully Convicted and Executed in Texas." The Innocence Project - Cameron Todd Willingham: Wrongfully Convicted and Executed in Texas. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Cameron_Todd_Willingham_Wrongfully_Convicted_and_Executed_in_Texas.php.

-Order of Exonerating Cameron Todd Willingham
"Cameron Todd Willingham – Innocent and Executed." Cameron Todd Willingham Innocent and Executed RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. http://camerontoddwillingham.com.

"Trial by Fire." The New Yorker. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. .

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