New shenanigans on arson investigation at forensic commission

Barry Scheck of the national Innocence Project and Todd Willingham's cousin have an op ed in the Houston Chronicle accusing Forensic Science Commission Chair and Williamson County DA John Bradley of more shenanigans aiming to prevent a re-assessment of science in old arson cases. They write:

Last week, after closed meetings that may violate the Texas Open Meetings Act, Bradley sent out an unsigned legal memo instructing commissioners that they have a “relatively narrow investigative jurisdiction.”

Employing “Catch-22” logic, he claimed that commissioners lack the “discretion or power” to investigate evidence that was not from a laboratory accredited by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) — which, as it happens, did not accredit labs before 2003, years after the Willingham fire. By this reasoning, the TFSC cannot review any pre-2003 matter, such as the Houston Police Department crime lab evidence, the scandal that gave rise to its formation.

In 2008, the TFSC carefully considered the jurisdiction question, and, with assent from the Attorney General’s office, determined that the Willingham and other old cases like it are well within its authority.

And rightly so: The Willingham inquiry into the use of unreliable arson analysis is an urgent matter for more than 600 people incarcerated in Texas whose arson convictions may have been based on invalid science. If its investigation is derailed, the commissioners would be turning their backs on these potentially innocent Texans.

Rather than becoming mired in bureaucratic shell games, the commissioners should take their cue from the FBI, which, after learning that a scientific test it used for three decades to do composite bullet lead analysis was unreliable, not only stopped using this flawed science but systematically reviewed its old cases and notified prosecutors across the country when it could no longer stand behind the testimony of its own agent examiners. The same should be done in this instance. 

Doubtless most Grits readers are unsurprised at Mr. Bradley's hubris in relying upon his own opinion over his colleagues' 2008 determination and the commission's advisers from the Attorney General. Such transparent stalling tactics have been his modus operandi since the day Bradley was appointed to the chairman's slot.