Melissa Hinton CJUS 2050 Units 5-8: Video Essay Assignment 1.

Why focus on the Cameron Todd Willingham case? Because he advocated for his innocence and was sentenced to death for the arson deaths of his children. There was a question of guilt because there was no concrete evidence that Mr. Willingham actually started the fire. 2. How common are questionable arson conviction cases like Willingham's? Based on the entire United States cases, its hard to say since the number isnt known. However, based on Texas alone theyre very uncommon. 3. This case addresses issues at the heart of the national debate on capital punishment -- the use of science in the courtroom, the integrity of our criminal justice system and the justice -- or injustice -- of the death penalty. In a much cited 2006 opinion, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that the dissent in a case had not cited "a single case -- not one -- in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit." Could the Willingham case quash that argument? I think that Scalias statement is absolutely ridiculous. Of course there have been innocent people executed. Carlos De Luna, Larry Griffin, Lionel Herrera, Joseph ODell, Cameron Todd Willingham, Ellis Felker, Leo Jones, Jesse Tafero, David Spence, Ruben Cantu, are all considered innocent after their executions had been carried out. What I dont understand is, how can the Supreme Court deny, in any way, that new evidence that clearly demonstrates innocence. How exactly does that not violate the 8th Amendment? How is it not cruel and unusual punishment to deny someone a new trial based on new evidence that could lead to their exoneration? This, in my opinion, is how courts fail. Any time a person is in jail and new evidence is presented, particularly in death sentences, they should be able to have the right to fight for their lives. Im sure that the ten listed above are not the only ones that have had this problem within the justice system. These are probably just the ones that are more noteworthy. If you look at the background of the 8th Amendment you will note that the main purpose of the Amendment stemmed from a case where Titus Oates, where he committed multiple acts of perjury by wrongly accusing people. In turn that lead to wrongly accused executions. I could go on and on for pages and pages about the death penalty, but I wont. I will say one last thing. This is the reason I am absolutely against the death penalty, no matter the case. Forget the spiritual and Biblical references of, An eye for an eye. I mean, this is human life here. What makes a death sentence more justifiable than the murderer themselves? If you kill a wrongly accused person, the system is NOT trustworthy when they wrongfully execute them. Im afraid Scalia is in denial.