Our beloved, immaculately coiffed governor, Rick Perry, is now obstructing the Texas Forensic Science Commission's efforts to investigate whether Cameron Willingham was innocent, and therefore probably shouldn't have been executed. Turns out the arson he was convicted of may not have been arson at all. Whoops.
As forensic science has improved over recent years, we seem to be finding again and again that the state makes gross errors in criminal investigations that could lead to executing innocent people. Some are lucky and are exonerated before they are executed, but Cameron Willingham wasn't so fortunate. To me, the best solution to this problem would be to just stop executing people. That way any possible miscarriage of justice can still be set right. One thing I don't understand about conservatives who are in favor of capital punishment is that they don't trust the government to do much of anything right, but they trust them to stick needles full of poison into the right people. I believe that is one power the state shouldn't have.
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