Austin judge to hold 2-day hearing on arson case that led to man’s execution

Judge sets hearing in arson case tied to execution

AUSTIN, Texas — A state judge in Texas has ordered two days of hearings next week into an arson case that led to a man’s execution.

The Austin American-Statesman reports that state District Judge Charles Baird scheduled the hearings for Oct. 6-7 in Austin in the arson murder case that led to Cameron Todd Willingham’s 2004 execution.

The Innocence Project had petitioned for the hearing to examine whether fire investigators were wrong in ruling arson was the cause of the 1991 fire near Corsicana that killed Willingham’s three daughters.

The New York-based group filed its petition a week after the Texas Forensic Science Commission declined to clear fire investigators of professional misconduct for making the arson determination.

Information from: Austin American-Statesman, www.statesman.com