Cameron Todd Willingham in his cell on death row, in 1994. He insisted upon his innocence in the deaths of his children and refused an offer to plead guilty in return for a life sentence. © Ken Light.
Read the The New Yorker‘s article Trial by Fire about Cameron Todd Willingham, which asks, “Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man?”
Ken Light photographed Willingham fifteen years ago in his death row cell.
Willingham was accused of setting his house alight while his three children slept inside, tried for arson and murder, found guilty and sentenced to death. He always professed his innocence. Willingham was executed on February 17th, 2004. Before and since his execution, evidence supporting his conviction has been brought into question. Eye-witness testimonies conflicted and the fire forensics for the case are considered unreliable.
Recently, I spoke with Ken Light about his Texas Death Row.
The New Yorker only had one photographer to turn to for an image of the incarcerated Willingham. Without Texas Death Row (1994), we would have precious little photographic record of the lives and experiences of Texas’ institutions for the condemned.
Prison Photography 
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September 5, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Scott Cobb
If you are shocked that Texas executed a person who was innocent of the crime for which he was executed, then join us in Austin at the Texas Capitol on October 24, 2009 for the 10th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty.
http://marchforabolition.org
At the 7th Annual March in 2006, the family of Todd Willingham attended and delivered a letter to Governor Perry that said in part:
“We are the family of Cameron Todd Willingham. Our names are Eugenia Willingham, Trina Willingham Quinton and Joshua Easley. Todd was an innocent person executed by Texas on February 17, 2004. We have come to Austin today from Ardmore, Oklahoma to stand outside the Texas Governor’s Mansion and attempt to deliver this letter to you in person, because we want to make sure that you know about Todd’s innocence and to urge you to stop executions in Texas and determine why innocent people are being executed in Texas.”
“Please ensure that no other family suffers the tragedy of seeing one of their loved ones wrongfully executed. Please enact a moratorium on executions and create a special blue ribbon commission to study the administration of the death penalty in Texas. A moratorium will ensure that no other innocent people are executed while the system is being studied and reforms implemented.”
September 6, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Stan B.
Unbelievable! And we are to believe that no other innocents have been and will yet be killed…
October 15, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Truth
yeah… I’m sure everyone on death row is innocent
October 15, 2009 at 5:02 pm
petebrook
I think many people on death row are guilty. In some cases not for crimes they were sentenced for.
I think others are innocent. Please, visit the Innocent Project archives to see the 100s of men who have been released from death row because the evidence in the original trial was false.
November 19, 2014 at 7:34 pm
The Marshall Project Launches with Attitude, Quirks, Stats and a Focus on the Death Penalty | Prison Photography
[…] corrections in West Virginia; and Maurice Possley recovered and uncovered the startling facts of Cameron Todd Willingham‘s wrongful conviction and […]
October 30, 2016 at 11:43 am
Kim Rushing’s Brief Step Back In Time at Parchman Penitentiary, Mississippi | Prison Photography
[…] in terms of predictable moments, I cannot help but think of Ken Light’s portrait of Cameron Todd Willingham in Texas from 1994, when I view Rushing’s photo of Kevin Pack […]