By John Schwartz. Willingham's case and the investigative techniques were criticized by a 2004 Chicago Tribune article. [3] A 2011 documentary, Incendiary: The Willingham Case, also explored the case. Prosecutors charged that Willingham set the fire and killed the children in an attempt to cover up the abuse of the children and wife. [1], In 2009, John Jackson, the prosecutor at the trial, stated that burns suffered by Willingham were "so superficial as to suggest that the same were self-inflicted in an attempt to divert suspicion from himself. "What they are interested in is finding the poster boy for the abolition of the death penalty," Bradley said. Evil Lives Here airs at 8/7c on Investigation Discovery. Shes given very different stories about what happened on this particular day right up to the date of his execution, Jackson said. What If He Was Innocent? The opinions of a state fire official in the case were "nothing more than a collection of personal beliefs that have nothing to do with science-based fire investigation," Beyler wrote. As the fire took hold, Willingham was driven out through the front door of his house, where he crouched down near the entrance. Where Is Stacey Willingham From Trial By Fire In 2019? There were far too many legal errors and turning a blind eye to the truth. Throughout the process, Stacy Kuykendall, Willingham's former wife and the mother of the three victims, has maintained that he was guilty of the murders. All concluded that the original investigators relied on outdated theories and folklore to justify the determination of arson. SYNOPSIS. I recently finished The Lost City of Z, David Grann's account of the British explorer Percy Fawcett's final journey in the Amazon basin, where . Willingham explained that he moved his car because he was afraid fuel in the car would cause the fire to get much worse. [7] Webb later told David Grann, a reporter for The New Yorker that he might have been mistaken. "[43] A jury later heard and rejected the claim that Jackson had hid evidence, finding in favor of Jackson. When the recusal motion was denied, Thompson appealed to the Third Court of Appeals and had the proceedings stayed. During his trial, Willingham did not testify; the defense called only one witness, the Willinghams' babysitter, who stated that she believed that Willingham could not have killed his children. Kuykendall claims in the . He said if I didnt have my girls I couldnt leave him and that I could never have Amber or the twins with anyone else but him. On 23 December 1991, the Corsicana home of Cameron Willingham burned. You can learn more about how we consider cases here. Willingham escaped the home with only minor burns. She told reporters that Cameron Todd Willingham set the fire that killed the girls "and watched while . What are now being described as Willinghams inconsistencies dont come from Willingham at all they are recollections from hearsay witnesses, virtually none of whom testified at trial or were cross-examined. . On 23 December 1991, the Corsicana home of Cameron Willingham burned. Michelle Lyons worked as a newspaper reporter and a Texas state employee at the jail and said Willingham was swearing and yelling at his wife, Stacy Kuykendall, even as . Kuykendall told prosecutors that he had never abused the children. When Willingham was arrested, he vigorously professed his innocence. "[12] At trial, Willingham's conduct at the scene was described as oscillating between collected and hysterical at times screaming for assistance and at other times calmly pushing his car back from the flames that were engulfing his house. Cameron Todd Willingham's case raises strong opinions on many different levels, but some who defend his conviction and execution are distorting aspects of the case, and some of those distortions are being repeated or reported as fact. In 1992, Willingham was convicted of arson-related triple homicide and was executed 12 years later by the death penalty after his three daughters were killed in a 1991 house fire. I was 21, just lost all my children and now everyone expected me to believe that their father did this. Perhaps most notably, Hurst was able to explain the presence of lighter fluid at the scene: a charcoal grill which had been used . In January 2004, the forensic evidence in the case was looked at by an established fire . . [24], This left only the chemical testing for accelerant. [26] Neither responded to Willingham's appeals. When Stacy Kuykendall agreed to lie on the stand to protect her husband, Cameron Todd Willingham, she still believed him to be an innocent man. In recreations with rooms involved in intense fires, experts can safely stand by a door seconds before flashover, and Willingham could have stood close to the childrens room without being harmed. Several witnesses testified for the prosecution. However, Cameron maintained his innocence to his dying breath, and later evidence also suggested that he could have been wrongly executed. Thank you for visiting us. But tragically, their three young children were killed in the . The order comes at the end of a day of testimony. Her statement is curious. Also, the prosecution relied heavily on the testimony of convict Johnny Webb, who testified that Willingham had confessed to him. Hes never hurt those kids, she said. He said that a picture of a fist punching through a skull signified violence and death. One of the most fascinating yet heartbreaking events in Americas legal system history is brought to the big screen with Trial By Fire. Prosecutors are fighting that effort, which is being led by the Innocence Project, a New York legal center. The front porch was the only place where an accelerant was verified by laboratory tests, and a photograph taken of the house before the fire showed that a charcoal grill was there. It was just a fire. In the fall of 2004, just months after Willinghams execution, the ChicagoTribune reporters Steve Mills and Maurice Possley visited Kuykendall at her house and asked her if Willingham had, in fact, confessed to her. But a few days before that meeting, Perry removed three members of the commission and appointed Bradley, a conservative ally, as its chairman. His wife Stacey was out Christmas shopping at the time. Willingham's three children -- 2-year-old Amber Kuykendall and 1-year-old twins Karmon and Kameron Willingham, died of smoke inhalation. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Craig Beyler's report criticized investigators who ruled the . Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from the Innocence Project: Cameron Todd Willinghams case raises strong opinions on many different levels, but some who defend his conviction and execution are distorting aspects of the case, and some of those distortions are being repeated or reported as fact. Willingham, played . David Grann: Stacy Speaks: News Desk : The New Yorker. [16], Consistent with typical Navarro County death penalty practice, Willingham was offered the opportunity to eliminate himself as a suspect by polygraph examination, which Willingham rejected, according to Jackson. In a legal brief responding to Hursts report, the prosecution argued that the execution should go ahead, and includedan affidavit from Willinghams former brother-in-law Ronnie Kuykendall. According to Brandice Barbee, "All I could see was smoke. Each time, she said that she and Todd had not fought the night before the blaze, and that they had gone to Kmart to pick up photographs of the family to get ready for their Christmas celebration. [18] During his trial in August 1992, he was offered a life term in exchange for a guilty plea, which he turned down, insisting he was innocent. "My ex-husband murdered my daughters, and just before he was executed, he told me he did it," Kuykendall said. He said that he woke up to her cry of Daddy, Daddy. Willingham said he woke up and saw smoke hovering a few feet above him, then jumped up from the bed where Ambers body would later be found, put on his pants and ran to the kids room where all he could see was fire. Cameron Todd Willingham's Ex-Wife Stacy Kuykendall Says Texas Shouldn't Pardon Him [EXCLUSIVE] | HuffPost . Myth: The Huntsville Unit where the executions take place . Cameron Todd Willingham (January 9, 1968 - February 17, 2004) was an American man who was convicted and executed for the murder of his three young children by arson at the family home in Corsicana, Texas, on December 23, 1991. Also, Stacy Kuykendall now claims that he confessed in the same conversation that he asked her to help with his clemency bid. In 2009, an investigative report by Grann[1] drew upon analysis by arson investigation experts and advances in fire science since the 1992 investigation; he suggested that the evidence for arson was unconvincing. Required fields are marked *. stacy willingham married. (For example, she now claims the couple fought the night before the fire, but she clearly said the opposite in various official statements over the years.). By The New Yorker. Hurst individually discredited each piece of arson evidence, using publicly supported experiments backed by his re-creation of the elements in question, the most notable being the Lime Street fire, which created the unique 3-point burn patterns flashover. [9][10] The APA said that Grigson had violated the organization's ethics code by, "arriving at a psychiatric diagnosis without first having examined the individuals in question, and for indicating, while testifying in court as an expert witness, that he could predict with 100 per cent certainty that the individuals would engage in future violent acts. Application of the Law is not perfect in the UK either, but Todd would still be alive if hed lived here, and would probably have been exonerated. His testimony has been criticized as contentious for several reasons. Yesterday, Possley, who is now an investigative researcher for the Northern California Innocence Project, at Santa Clara University School of Law, told me that he had no doubt that what he and Mills reported is accurate. "[1] A sample of burned material near the doorway of the house tested positive for mineral spirits, indicating the presence of lighter fluid. [16] In a 2009 article discussing the reasons why Willingham was found guilty, Jackson recalled witness statements establishing that Willingham was overheard whispering to his deceased older daughter at the funeral home, "You're not the one who was supposed to die." The investigators concluded that the fire had been started deliberately. Here is whatMills and Possley wrote: The response from local prosecutors included a two-paragraph affidavit from Ronnie Kuykendall, the brother of Willinghams former wife. Please avoid sharing any personal information in the comments below and join us in making this a hate-speech free and safe space for everyone. In fact, on the same day that her brother claimed she had told him Willingham confessed in that meeting, a local media outlet ran an interview with Stacy Kuykendall where she said Willingham maintained his innocence during the meeting (even though she thought he was guilty). Willingham's attorneys were not notified. Cameron Todd Willingham Just when it seemed Gov. Stacy Kuykendall, his then-wife, played a . The case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in Texas in 2004 and whom Iwrote about forThe New Yorker last month, has taken another strange twist. Deleted member 31923. [15] The prosecutor claimed that the fire that killed the children was the third attempt by Willingham to kill them, and that he had attempted to abort each of his wife's two pregnancies by kicking her in order to cause miscarriages. Willingham was executed in 2004. About Willingham's ex-wife, Stacy Kuykendall, even John Jackson (who prosecuted Willingham and . He said that Willingham confessed to burning her twice with a piece of "wadded up" paper in an effort to make it appear as though the children were "playing with fire. Stacey Kuykendall divorced her husband not long after the deaths of her children, and she professed that Willingham had been abusive towards her, but not the children. Webb claimed that Willingham confessed that he set the fire to hide an injury or death of one of the girls, which was caused by his wife. Tessa Thompson Talks Going To Couples Therapy With Michael B. Jordan, Everything I Know About Romantic Love, I Learned From Bollywood Movies, Christina Milian Loves Making Rom-Coms & We Cant Get Enough of Them, These Romantic Movies Are Guaranteed To Make You Cry, The Greatest Romantic Comedies That Youll Watch On Repeat. Myth: . On February 8, 2004the very day that Ronnie Kuykendall claimed his sister had told him that Willingham had confessedthe CorsicanaDaily Sun publishedan interview with Stacy Kuykendall. Stacy Kuykendall, Willingham's then-wife and the mother of his three daughters, was not home at the time of the fire. Baird in the meantime will likely either recuse himself or refer the case to another judge for a decision on recusal. Emily Meade as Stacey in "Trial By Fire.". The new chair, John Bradley, canceled the meeting, sparking accusations that Perry was interfering with the investigation[4] and using it for his own political advantage. Last Sunday, in a statement to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Cameron Todd Willingham's former wife, Stacy Kuykendall . [16] Against the advice of his own counsel, Willingham declined a life sentence in exchange for his guilty plea. The State Fire Marshal's Office continues to stand behind the arson finding. He was eventually transported to the hospital for treatment, in handcuffs."[13]. List of people executed in Texas, 20002009, List of people executed in the United States in 2004, List of wrongful convictions in the United States, "Trial by Fire: Did Texas execute an innocent man? 982 Followers, 33 Following, 49 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Stacy Kuykendall Willinghamgirlslivesmattered (@willinghamgirlslivesmattered) [1], Eyewitnesses described Willingham as having "singed hair on his chest, eyelids, and head and had a two-inch burn injury on his right shoulder, but the prosecution highlighted the absence of any evidence of smoke inhalation. Since her ex-husbands execution, Stacy Kuykendall has remained completely under the radar. Questions persist surrounding Cameron Todd Willingham's conviction and death sentence, but according to Stacy Kuykendall, who knew him better than anyone, Cameron is a monster who was guilty as charged and deserved to die. On Jan. 8, the night before Willingham's 24th birthday, he was arrested by a SWAT team. Is anyone feeling that the mom has strong narcissistic vibes, I worked on both cases. Willingham didnt try to save his children (his wounds were superficial, he stood outside while the house burned, he moved his car, etc). [33] In 2010, she declared, "Todd murdered Amber, Karmon, and Kameron. Hurst said in December 2004 that "There's nothing to suggest to any reasonable arson investigator that this was an arson fire. On December 23, 1991, a fire destroyed the family home of Cameron Todd Willingham in Corsicana, Texas.
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