Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Texas Death Penalty Blog

Criminal Law

: Texas Death Penalty Blog

David Grann's article on Todd Willingham was the "most powerful essay" of 2009

By "Persian Cowboy"

David Brooks of the New York Times says that David Grann's article on Todd Willingham was the "most powerful essay" he read all year and worthy of a Sidney Award. Read his entire article "The Sidney Awards".Every year, I give out Sidney Awards to the best magazine essays of the year. In an age of zipless, electronic media, the idea is to celebrate (and provide online links to) long-form articles that have narrative drive and social impact.andThe most powerful essay I read this year was David Grann?s ?Trial by Fire? in The New Yorker. Grann investigated the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 for murdering his three children by setting their house on fire.In the first part of the essay, Grann lays out the evidence that led to Willingham?s conviction: the marks on the floor and walls that suggested that a fire accelerant had been splashed around; the distinct smoke patterns suggesting arson; the fact that Willingham was able to flee the house barefoot without burning his feet...continue to full post

Full post as published by Texas Death Penalty Blog on December 25, 2009 (boomark / email).