Cameron Todd Willingham, Texas, and the death penalty

New Yorker by David Grann | Sep. 3, 2009 (Special Report)

The fire moved quickly through the house, a one-story wood-frame structure in a working-class neighborhood of Corsicana, in northeast Texas. Flames spread along the walls, bursting through doorways, blistering paint and tiles and furniture. Smoke pressed against the ceiling, then banked downward, seeping into each room and . . . Full Story »

Posted by Kaizar Campwala - via Dan Gillmor, Dave Winer, New Yorker, Columbia Journalism Review, Megan Taylor (t), Umbreen Bhatti (t), Matthew Nadler (t), Rachel Fus (t)

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Subjects: U.S., Business
Topics: Law, Death Penalty
Member Tags: Texas, capital punishment
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# Diggs: 5 (as of 2011-09-08)
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Posted by: Posted by Kaizar Campwala - Aug 30, 2009 - 10:37 PM PDT
Reviewed by: Joel Kulenkamp (review), Kaizar Campwala (review), Subramanya Sastry (review), Patrick McGuire (review), Alison Hui (review), Nicholas Bentley (review)
Content Type: Article
Edit Lock: This story can be edited
Edited by: Kaizar Campwala - Sep 3, 2009 - 7:58 AM PDT

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Kaizar Campwala
4.5
 by Kaizar Campwala - Sep. 13, 2009

A devastating piece of journalism. Grann is a skillful story teller who engages the reader in the very same false narrative that failed Willingham, and perhaps many others on death row. Recommended read.

Kaizar posted this story.
See Full Review » (11 answers)
Subramanya Sastry
4.7
 by Subramanya Sastry - Sep. 13, 2009

Very well written article covering different pieces of the case which effectively makes a strong argument for the abolition of the death penalty.

See Full Review » (11 answers)
Joel Kulenkamp
4.7
 by Joel Kulenkamp - Sep. 2, 2009

I heard a description of this on NPR today; this is a very detailed and disturbing story about a seemingly needless death.

The police began to piece together a disturbing profile of Willingham. Born in Ardmore, Oklahoma, in 1968, he had been abandoned by his mother when he was a baby. His ... More »

See Full Review » (12 answers)
Nicholas Bentley
4.6
 by Nicholas Bentley - Sep. 13, 2009

This story has to be read to understand how an innocent man has been put to death. In addition it is an excellent piece of narrative journalism by David Grann

See Full Review » (11 answers)
Patrick McGuire
4.9
 by Patrick McGuire - Sep. 7, 2009

Very good journalism. It was a very well done in depth and sources.

I have been suspect of the justice system because of my own personal experience. To me that this is another sorry incident that there are many holes in the justice system which is subject to prejudice and suspect reasoning.

See Full Review » (7 answers)
Alison Hui
4.0
 by Alison Hui - Sep. 10, 2009
See Full Review » (5 answers)

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