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<img src="http://www.texasobserver.org/images/email/emailHeader_top.gif" /><br /> <a href="http://www.texasobserver.org"><img src="http://www.texasobserver.org/images/email/emailHeader_home.gif" /></a><a href="http://www.texasobserver.org/subscribe.php"><img src="http://www.texasobserver.org/images/email/emailHeader_subscribe.gif" /></a><a href="http://www.texasobserver.org/donate.php"><img src="http://www.texasobserver.org/images/email/emailHeader_donate.gif" /></a><img src="http://www.texasobserver.org/images/email/emailHeader_right.gif" /><br /> <h2>The Supposed Willingham Confession</h2> <h4>by Dave Mann</h4> <div style="width:594px;"> <p>On Sunday, Stacy Kuykendall -- the ex-wife of Cameron Todd Willingham -- gave her first public statement in years. She<a href="http://www.star-telegram.com/texas/story/1709042.html" title="Star Telegram"> provided a statement</a> to the <em>Fort Worth Star-Telegram</em> in which she reiterated that, when she met with Willingham on death row just before his 2004 execution, he confessed to starting the 1991 fire that killed their three daughters.</p> <p>(If you don't know the details of Willingham's case, <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412090169dec09,0,1173806.story" title="Chicago Tribune">click here</a>.)</p> <p>The supposed confession is highly problematic. Kuykendall's story keeps changing. I sympathize with Kuykendall. She experienced unspeakable tragedy. But it's hard to trust what she's saying now.</p> <p>If we had a recording of Willingham confessing, that would be one thing. Unfortunately, only two people know what was said that day. One of them is dead. The other keeps changing her account.</p> <p>So my advice is this: ignore the whole damn episode.</p> <p>The notion of a death row confession is enticing. But there are no answers here. It's a bottomless hole.</p> <p>If you're truly interested in trying to figure this out, I wrote about the problems with the supposed confession <a href="/contrarian/comments/fact-check-the-willingham-case" title="Willingham post">here</a>. David Grann at the <em>New Yorker</em> has an even more detailed <a …<br/><br/><a href='http://www.texasobserver.org/contrarian/comments/the-supposed-willingham-confession'>Read the entire article »</a> <br /><br /> http://www.texasobserver.org/contrarian/comments/the-supposed-willingham-confession </div> <br /><br /> <img src="http://www.texasobserver.org/images/email/email_footer.gif" />