CORSICANA, Texas, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A Chicago Tribune investigation indicates a Texas man executed for setting a fire that killed his three daughters may have been innocent.
At his execution Feb. 17, Cameron Todd Willingham maintained his innocence, but for the first time the Tribune report released Thursday may back up his claims.
The Tribune said arson theories used to prosecute and convict Willingham have since been repudiated by scientific advances, while four fire experts contacted by the paper said the original investigation was flawed and it was even possible the fire was accidental.
"There's nothing to suggest to any reasonable arson investigator that this was an arson fire," said report author Gerald Hurst, a Cambridge University-educated chemist who has investigated scores of fires in his career. "It was just a fire."
Navarro County Judge John Jackson, who prosecuted Willingham, said the experts' review raises some "issues," but he has no doubt Willingham was guilty.
