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Gov. Perry replaces head of agency investigating Texas arson findings

DALLAS, Texas (Dallas Morning News) – AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry was blasted after he swept three appointees from their jobs just two days before they were set to critically examine a flawed arson investigation that contributed to the execution of a Corsicana man.

The hearing of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, scheduled for Friday in Irving, was abruptly canceled by the new chairman the governor chose, Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley. He is considered one of the most conservative, hard-line prosecutors in Texas.

Gov. Rick Perry’s shake-up of the Texas Forensic Science Commission came two days before it was to hear from the author of a scathing report in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham. That Friday session has been postponed indefinitely in the wake of Perry’s new appointments.

Willingham was put to death for killing his three daughters in a fire that arson investigators said had been deliberately set. Yet death-penalty opponents say an impartial review of the case could lead to an unprecedented admission — that the state executed an innocent man.

Three reports, including one commissioned by the Forensic Science Commission, have concluded that arson was not the likely cause of the 1991 fire.

Perry’s office described the governor’s replacement of commission members as routine, saying the terms of Chairman Sam Bassett and commissioners Alan Levy and Aliece Watts had expired. But Levy said he told the governor’s office “that it would be disruptive to make the new appointments right now.”

“The commission was at a crucial point in the investigation,” he told CNN on Thursday.

Asked about the future of the Willingham investigation, he said, “I don’t know if it will ever be heard.”

Levy, a top prosecutor in Fort Worth, said he had asked to remain on the commission, but received no response from the governor’s office. Sam Bassett, the panel’s former chairman, said he also asked to remain on board.

The New Yorker – Did Texas execute an innocent man?

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."