Texas science panel adopts arson recommendations

AUSTIN, Texas – A state panel looking into the case of an executed Texas inmate has recommended fire investigators should receive more education and training, and establish procedures to review old cases

Friday's recommendations came after questions surfaced about whether faulty arson science sent Cameron Todd Willingham to the death chamber. Investigators determined a 1991 fire that killed his three children was intentionally set.

Willingham was executed in 2004 for setting the blaze at his home in Corsicana.

Willingham didn't testify at his trial but always insisted — even in an obscenity-filled tirade the moment before his execution — that he was innocent. He suggested the fire could have been started accidentally by his 2-year-old daughter, Amber, who died along with her 1-year-old twin sisters, Karmon and Kameron.