Family of Executed Texas Man Seeks to Clear His Name

Share:

October 25, 2012

Eight years after Cameron Todd Willingham was executed for the 1991 arson-murder of his three young children, his surviving family members asked the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to pardon him posthumously yesterday.

“My son Todd was convicted on false evidence,” Eugenia Willingham said at a press conference. “How I’d like to be proud of the Willingham name again.”

Willingham’s case is at the center of the debate over the death penalty in America. In the 2010 film Death By FireFRONTLINE probed the controversial fire science used to convict him, exploring the explosive implications of the execution of a possibly innocent man.

In January 2010, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott released an opinion that allowed for posthumous pardons to be granted. Board of Pardons and Paroles spokesman Harold Battson said such cases typically take three to four months to consider.


More Stories

Coming This Fall on FRONTLINE
Plus: How you can support our journalism at a critical time for public media. Read a message from FRONTLINE Editor-in-Chief & Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath.
October 1, 2025
What the O.J. Verdict & Its Aftermath Revealed About Race in America
On the 30th anniversary of a verdict that shook the U.S., revisit a seminal FRONTLINE documentary on the stark truths and lasting impact of the O.J. Simpson trial, now streaming on YouTube for the first time.
October 1, 2025
Exclusive: Iran Won't Allow Nuclear Inspections if Sanctions Are Reimposed, Says Iran’s Chief Nuclear Negotiator
In an exclusive interview with FRONTLINE, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator said the country will end its participation in international weapons inspections if sanctions are reimposed.
September 26, 2025