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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">AG says
Forensic Science Commission can’t consider Willingham case, others before Sept.
2005</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
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<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">AG says Forensic Science Commission can’t consider
Willingham case, others before Sept. 2005</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">By Tim Eaton | </SPAN></FONT>Friday, July 29, 2011,
10:51 AM</P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">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 </SPAN></FONT>Sept. 1, 2005.</P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">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
</SPAN></FONT>Corsicana house fire that jurors decided he set. Willingham was
executed in 2004.</P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">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.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">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.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">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.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Here is the text that Abbott’s office sent
today:</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Good morning:</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">We issued 1 Attorney General Opinion: GA-0866
(RQ-0943-GA)</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">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</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Summary: Although the Forensic Science Commission may
conduct investigations of incidents that occurred before
</SPAN></FONT>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.</P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">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.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=2 face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><A title=http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2011/07/29/ag_says_forensic_science_commi.html?cxntfid=blogs_postcards href="http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/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</A></SPAN></FONT></P>
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