John Bradley promises 'integrity' on Forensic Commission: Proof will come soon enough

Speaking yesterday with the Dallas News ("New chair unsure whether state panel will proceed no flawed case that led to execution in Corsicana fire," Oct. 7), Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley waffled on whether the Texas Forensic Science Commission would go forward with its inquiry anytime soon into flawed arson forensics used in a death penalty case, and he seemed in little hurry to restart the process. Governor Perry last week appointed Bradley as the Commission's new chair, resulting in the delay of a prominent investigation into bogus arson forensics presented to a jury in the Cameron Todd Willingham case:

Bradley told The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday that he doesn't know when the board will take up its investigations again. He said he needs time to review the commission's two years' worth of work and to study the role of its members and the process they should use in moving forward.

"It is too important as a symbolic case, and as much as a real case, for us not to finish that work," Bradley said of the Willingham case. "But at the same time, I want to make sure the work is done in a way that is professional and has utmost integrity."

Bradley said the timetable for the board to act is also unclear because the governor has two more positions to fill, and he wants to wait until all new members are on board.

Does Mr. Bradley have a single, articulable reason to believe the Commission's work was not "professional and has utmost integrity"? If so, he should say exactly what are those concerns. In truth, it was Bradley shutting down the hearing scheduled for last Friday which has most called into question the integrity of the process. Outside of that, there have been no credible allegations I'm aware of questioning the Commission's integrity. They're all GOP appointees, after all, it's not like these are a bunch of liberals.

Mr. Bradley told the News he did not seek this appointment, but that strikes me as disingenuous. His name was picked by the Governor from a short list given him by the prosecutors' association. Are we really to believe that they included Bradley's name without his consent, that he didn't know his name had been proposed to the governor for this role and he did not pre-approve of its submission? That seems pretty far-fetched to me.

Mr. Bradley attempts to reassure the public with platitudes regarding his good intentions:

Bradley said that looking back on cases to see if bad science played a role is important, but mostly as it applies to future cases.

"It is my experience that leadership is best applied to moving forward rather than looking back," he said.

Bradley said he can't satisfy critics who believe he was placed on the commission to stymie the Willingham investigation.

"All I can do is reassure people that ... from this day forward, all of the decisions the commission makes will be in the best interest of advancing forensic science in Texas and that there is no preconceived notion of how that should be done," he said.

But at this point, as Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey pointed out, we don't need to listen to Mr. Bradley's words to know if this was a political ploy, we can observe his actions. If the commission quickly reschedules the Willingham hearing before the gubernatorial primary and the chair allows them to produce strong recommendations as a result, it will quickly, easily dispel criticisms that Mr. Bradley is just a political hack brought in to hide the truth instead of seek it. I'd be more than happy to publicly eat crow for my critiques of Bradley's appointment if that's how things pan out.

If on the other hand the Commission's Willingham inquiry is delayed past the March primary or shut down altogether, all the excuse making in the world won't convince me this wasn't, as Paul Burka called it, a straight-up "Cover Up."

Reading the tea leaves, Bradley's talk about "moving forward rather than looking back" causes me to fear he may be inclined to shut down the Willingham inquiry entirely, and perhaps also the investigation into Brandon Moon's false conviction (based on bad forensics from a DPS crime lab in Lubbock). That may well be how things turn out, but if so it will be impossible to accept the chair's protestations that his only goal is "advancing forensic science in Texas."

RELATED: Via TexasKaos, see coverage of the case from CNN's Anderson Cooper 360:

The Governor wouldn't make time speak with the reporter, but she promised CNN would "keep asking" Rick Perry about the case until the Governor gave them some answers.