Innocence Project Of Texas First To Review Convicted Arson Cases

HEATHER ALFORD

THE SIGNAL

Innocent until proven guilty is a constitutional right guaranteed all U.S. citizens by the First Amendment. However, what about those who are found guilty in the American justice system yet claim innocence?

That is when the Innocence Project of Texas (IPTX) takes action. When people claim to be wrongly convicted, they can call upon this nonprofit organization to step in and provide DNA testing that may have been overlooked or the method nonexistent during the previous trial or trials in the state of Texas.

Modeled after the national Innocence Project, IPTX uses volunteers in the form of lawyers, paralegals,

private investigators and law students. Additionally, the Innocence Project of Texas is offering one other service that is unique to the nation: a statewide arson review.

How fire investigations are conducted have changed drastically within the past couple of decades, and modern experts are finding the work of past investigators guilty of providing misleading evidence.

The Forensic Science Commission in Texas recommended a review of past convictions to the State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) in April 2011, stated Lynn Robitaille Garcia, general counsel for Forensic Science Commission.

“However, that review is something the SFMO is engaged in separately from the Commission,” Garcia said.

The process is instead managed through IPTX and SFMO’s internal group, Scientific Advisory Workgroup (SAW), a team of analysts, investigators and engineers, with the hope of reviewing the evidence against those who may have been wrongly convicted.

Before they can go forward to SAW for review, research must be done. This is where volunteers for IPTX step in, including student volunteers from UHCL.

When the state began its arson review, a few of these cases had been handled locally through UHCL’s volunteers.  Steve Egger, associate professor of criminology and board member for IPTX, does his best to bring the organization out to the campus in the hope of garnering more interest and help for the cause.

“I try to get students involved,” Egger said.  “I count it as independent study credit.”

One past volunteer encouraged by Egger, Kyle Wofford, is still involved with IPTX. Wofford began volunteering in the Spring of 2011, when the arson review was first underway.

“So much junk science has been debunked…[but that] didn’t mean much in the eyes of the law,” Wofford said.

“Junk science” is how Wofford describes arson investigation techniques that have since been proven false. Common myths that have been debunked include crazing, which is the cracks found in windows after a fire that were previously thought to have been caused by an accelerant.  Experts now know that crazing is, in fact, caused by rapid cooling, such as when water hits the window.

Flashover, the point in which a fire has engulfed the whole room, changed many of the rules once thought to be certain.  Melted metals, spalling, or heat-induced breaking concrete and burn marks under doors or thresholds were all once thought to be where accelerant had been sprayed.  Now it is known to actually be an effect of flashover.

It was these types of outdated investigation techniques and more that volunteers in the Houston area had to research when first starting the arson reviews.  Many of those volunteers were students at the time at UHCL.

Wofford was the overseer of these volunteers for five months.

“The amount of hours they spent researching [these cases] was insane,” Wofford said.  “At the time they worked in four groups of three.  Cases were huge… You do a lot of grunt work for the higher ups to focus on, going through the briefs, picking them apart.”

Wofford believes that volunteers working on the cases make a difference.

“This is all fresh to us,” he said.  “Whereas others are used to investigating… They expect to see a certain thing.  They go with their gut feeling on a lot of stuff.”

Through the hard work and efforts of IPTX and SAW, stronger cases are going forward. Although the efforts of IPTX and the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office started in mid-2011, SAW began in early 2013. The trials researched a couple years back are just now going forward.