Was Cameron Todd Willingham a cold-hearted killer who burned his own three children to death?

Or was he a grieving father, wrongly convicted after a devastating tragedy who was forced to pay the ultimate price after being convicted of murdering the three youngsters?

Willingham was executed after he was found guilty of the most chilling of crimes. He was aged just 36.

Now, a new film – Trial By Fire – examines the claims that Willingham was wrongly put to death and was, in fact, innocent.

Starring Skins actor Jack O'Connell as Willingham and Laura Dern as Elizabeth Gilbert, who befriended Willingham while he was on death row, Trial By Fire is based on a 2009 investigative report by David Grann at The New Yorker.

Willingham was executed by the state of Texas on February 17 2004, more than 12 years after his three children were killed in a catastrophic house fire.

The young father, who was home when the blaze broke out, was accused of deliberately starting the fire.

Arson investigators said there were clear 'puddle patterns' in the property in Corsicana, Texas and other tell-tale signs the fire on December 23 1991 was no accident and the finger of blame was pointed at Willingham.

Witnesses claimed he had acted 'strange' during the fire, even moving the family car as his children burned alive inside.

Prosecutors charged Willingham with setting the fire and killing the children to cover up his abuse of the three girls (post mortems found no evidence of abuse).

Much of the evidence against him was based on two arson investigators who believed that "fire talks to you" and that "fire does not destroy evidence – it creates it.”

They relied on dated fire investigation technqiues.

The prosecutors painted Willingham as someone with a dark personality, referencing an Iron Maiden poster that had hung in the house saying it displayed “violence” and “death.”

He also had a skull tattoo.

They believed the house had been deliberately transformed into a death trap.

A jailhouse informant called Johnny Webb told authorities that Willingham confessed to setting the fire.

Willingham was sentenced to death and after a series of appeals failed and he was executed by lethal injection on February 17 2004.

Grann's report for the The New Yorker – dubbed Trail By Fire-  shed fresh light on the case – suggesting that the arson evidence was either misinterpreted or inaccurate and that Willingham was entirely innocent.

Webb later told David Grann that he might have been mistaken. 

Ten years after that was first published it has now been adapted into a film starring British actor O'Connell as Willingham and Laura Dern as Elizabeth Gilbert,.

Gilbert exchanged several letters with Willingham as his series of appeals went through the judicial system and began to believe in his innocence.

The film is written by Geoffrey Fletcher, who previously adapted Push into the film Precious, and is directed by Edward Zwick whose past credits include Blood Diamond and The Last Samurai.

Asked about production of the film, Zwick said in a statement: “I first read David Grann’s article in The New Yorker nearly 10 years ago.

“I couldn’t stop talking about it to friends and soon realized I had to try to make it as a film. I was appalled by the iniquity of Todd Willingham’s trial.

"I was completely infuriated by the miscarriage of justice that led to his imprisonment.

"This is ultimately a film about one man wrongly facing the death penalty and the profound preciousness of life.”

Trial By Fire is the first major film to be financed by Alex Soros, son of George Soros.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Alex's interest in the project stems from his passion for criminal justice reform.

Source: Read Full Article