Was an innocent man put to death in Texas in 2004? The documentary “Incendiary,” which argues that the execution of Todd Willingham was unjust, raises interesting and important questions but suffers from poor organization and glosses over or ignores inconvenient facts.
The movie begins in strange fashion, by rebutting evidence before we’ve heard it. In 1992, Willingham was convicted in one hour by a jury convinced he had set a fire that killed his three babies, then dashed out of the house and screamed for help. His defense attorney, interviewed extensively here, believes he was a monster who contradicted himself. Neighbors said there was a theatrical quality to Willingham’s cries for help, that they didn’t begin until he had attracted an audience, and that he acted to save his car as his children died. His wife, the children’s mother, claims he confessed to her shortly before his execution and his lawyer hints that Willingham may have confessed to him as well.
The documentary is at its most compelling (and most complicated) when it argues that arson is a field whose experts depend on lore rather than science, but this argument depends heavily on the opinion of a chemist introduced with the bizarre lines, “Gerald Hurst is one of the most brilliant men on the planet. He invented the mylar balloon. He invented an improvement of Wite-Out. He’s got a great heart.” Quite a résumé for someone testifying about arson.
The second half of the movie is a frustration, a morass of committee hearings that lead nowhere (and give the onlooker very little cause for confidence in the Texas Forensic Science Commission) combined with snippets of interviews intended to discredit Texas Gov. Rick Perry. For a much more comprehensive and rigorous history of the case, consult the 2009 New Yorker article by David Grann.