Cameron Todd Willingham was executed for murdering his three children by setting fire to their (and his) home. Willingham had appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and then to Governor Perry after at least one fire investigator, Dr. Gerald Hurt, had found that there was no evidence of arson, disagreeing with almost all of the conclusions in the original arson report. And of course, these findings were presented to Governor Perry.
After the execution, in 2004, the Chicago Tribune and later in 2009 the New Yorker published pieces examining whether Willingham was innocent of the crime. They cited reports and interviews with many arson and fire investigators who said disputed the conclusion that the fire was caused by arson.
In 2005, Perry appointed the Forensic Science Commission (FSC) to investigate claims of forensic misconduct in Willingham's as well as other cases. In August 2009, another national arson expert, Craig Beyler presented a report, that i think was commissioned by the FSC. On Sept. 29th, less than 72 hours before the FSC was to review the report, Perry removed three of the FSC members whose terms had just expired. He has only appointed two replacements. For the spot on the FSC supposed to represent defense counsel, Perry has appointed a prosecutor, John Bradley, the District Attorney from Williamson County (a notoriously conservative and excessively "tough on crime" county just north of Austin). Bradley will also assume the new FSC's role as chair. Bradley immediately canceled the 2 Oct. FSC hearing, where the FSC would have reviewed Beyler's report. The AusChron quoted Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project as saying, "And it is utterly self-protective when there is strong scientific proof that he [Perry] executed an innocent person."
So Perry is looking a lot like someone who (13 months before his next election) desperately wants to bury the fact that he may have executed an innocent man. Maybe that insanely "tough on crime" political stance wasn't so politically clever after all.
Presumably more important than Perry's career, of course, is the fact that an innocent man may have been executed. Governor Perry could have stopped the execution in 2004, either commuting the sentence to life without parole, or granting a stay for some period of time until the evidence could have been reviewed by more arson and fire experts. But Perry did not give Willingham any more time so that the initial report could be reviewed by more experts, and he allowed Willingham to be executed. Perry should have read Hurt's report, disputing the conslusion of arson, maybe he did. Though what is the likelihood that a man whose nickname is "Governor Goodhair" (for his best attribute) is going to be all that thorough when he's trying to maintain the right-wing image of being tough on crime?
Compare Perry with another conservative Republican, Governor Ryan of Illinois. In 2000, Ryan issued a moratorium on executions in Illinois. According to the article in Wikipedia he said, "We have now freed more people than we have put to death under our system." (Since resuming captial punishment in 1977, Ill. had executed 12 people and released 13 from death row.) "There is a flaw in the system, without question, and it needs to be studied." Ryan said, "I still believe the death penalty is a proper response to heinous crimes, but I want to make sure ... that the person who is put to death is absolutely guilty." (Governor Glendening of Maryland issued a similar moratorium in 2002.)
Contrast this with Perry's behavior. If Perry allowed an innocent man to be executed because he was too stupid or too lazy to read or understand a report from a credible expert that refuted the basis for the innocent man's conviction, then Perry seems guilty of negligent homicide or manslaughter. And if he deliberately ignored the merit of the report so he wouldn't loose right-wing votes in the next election, that sounds a lot like "knowingly caused the death of an individual," which is the legal definition of "murder" in the State of Texas. (Somehow, i doubt the Travis County prosecutor will charge him.)
In 2008, four years after Willingham was executed, the Texas Governor's Mansion was nearly destroyed by arson late one night. It was undergoing renovations, so it was empty of people or other historical items. Investigators speculated there might have been "political motivation."