[PAA-Discuss] [amnestyhouston] - AG says Forensic Science Commission can't consider Wi...

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AG says  Forensic Science Commission can’t consider Willingham case, others 
before Sept.  2005
 
 
 
 
 
AG says Forensic Science Commission can’t consider  Willingham case, others 
before Sept. 2005 
By Tim Eaton | Friday, July 29, 2011,  10:51 AM 
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said today that the  Forensic Science 
Commission is prohibited from considering evidence that was  tested or offered 
into evidence prior to Sept. 1, 2005. 
The result of the ruling is that commission didn’t  have the authority to 
look into the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was  convicted in 1992 in 
the 1991 deaths of his three children, who died in a  Corsicana house fire 
that jurors decided he set. Willingham was  executed in 2004. 
In 2008, the Innocence Project - which has a solid  track record on behalf 
of the wrongly convicted - filed a complaint with the  Forensic Science 
Commission and alleged professional negligence and/or  misconduct by arson 
investigators in the case. 
The State Fire Marshal’s Office and Corsicana Fire  Department objected to 
the Willingham investigation, saying the commission did  not have authority 
to examine the case. While proceeding with its  investigation, the 
commission asked the Attorney General’s Office to decide  the question. 
In the meantime, the commission issued its report in  the Willingham fire, 
finding that arson investigators relied on  now-discredited practices in 
concluding that the fire was intentionally  set. 
Here is the text that Abbott’s office sent  today: 
Good morning: 
We issued 1 Attorney General Opinion: GA-0866  (RQ-0943-GA) 
Opinion No. GA-0863 Go  
to:http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/opinions/50abbott/op/2011/htm/ga-0866.htmRe:  Investigative Authority of the Texas 
Forensic Science Commission  
(RQ-0943-GA)https://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/opinions/50abbott/rq/2011/pdf/rq0943ga.pdf 
Summary: Although the Forensic Science Commission may  conduct 
investigations of incidents that occurred before  September 1, 2005, the law that 
created the Commission prohibits  the FSC from considering evidence that was 
tested or offered into evidence  prior to that date. 
The Forensic Science Commission’s investigative  authority is limited to 
those laboratories, facilities, or entities that were  accredited by the 
Department of Public Safety at the time the forensic  analyses took place. The 
FSC may not investigate fields of forensic analysis  expressly excluded from 
the statutory definition of “forensic analysis.”  Forensic analysis that is 
neither expressly included nor excluded by the Act  or DPS rule, but that 
falls under the generic definition of “forensic  analysis” found in section 
38.35(a)(4), is generally subject to FSC  investigation, assuming all other 
statutory requirements are  satisfied. 
_http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/ent
ries/2011/07/29/ag_says_forensic_science_commi.html?cxntfid=blogs_postcards_
 
(http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2011/07/29/ag_says_forensic_science_commi.html?cxntfid=blogs_postcards
)  


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