For any interested in witnessing the willfully slipshod and malevolent manner in which the state of Texas applies the death penalty, "Nightline" has done a follow-up segment to David Grann's New Yorker piece on the wrongful execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. The segment (in two clips, below) contains a variety of outrageous revelations, but perhaps none more shocking than this exchange between correspondent Terry Moran and John Jackson, the prosecutor in the case, who has since become a Texas judge:
Moran: They say the conclusions reached by these [arson] investigators are not warranted by modern fire science and are based on primitive old wives' tales and folklore.
Jackson: That's not to say that they're not correct, though.
Moran: You sent a man to death on that.
Jackson: I'm comfortable with that.
For any who haven't yet read Grann's heartbreaking piece, you can find it here, and an update describing Governor Rick Perry's evident attempt to squelch an investigation of the execution here.
(via Ta-Nehisi Coates)