More Information

If you want to find more information about what happened to my cousin, I suggest looking at this webpage: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412090169dec09,0,7443588,full.story. This is an article from the Chicago Tribune that talks about my cousins case and how they found out he was innocent. I think it is a very inspiring story to all.

You Are Not Alone

Believe me when I tell you that you are not alone. I hate knowing that my cousin was taken from us for something that he did not do. I hate having to go everyday knowing that he will never come back because someone wrongly accused him. I know there are other people out there that are going through the same thing I am so I am trying to reach out to these people through my blog. I want them to know that there are other people out there that are experiencing the same pain and that there are people willing to talk about it. The death penalty should be abolished. I think we can all agree on that because of how we have lost our loved ones. The death penalty does good for no one. We do not need to lose more innocent lives to faulty evidence.   

Cameron and His Daughter

 

This is a photo of Cameron and his oldest daughter. He loved her just as much as he loved all his children. He was an innocent man that did nothing wrong. He should not have been executed based on one persons opinion of how the fire was started.

 

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412090169dec09,0,7443588,full.story

Abolishing the Death Penalty-- More Facts

There is no need for the death penalty. If someone is truly guilty and there is a lot of evidence to support it, then that person should be sentenced to life in prison without parole. Did you know that in the last couple of years at least four people (of the less than one hundred people on death row) were wrongfully executed for crimes they did not commit? That is four families that lost someone that they did not deserve to lose. By abolishing the death penalty, they are saving these families from unneeded and unwanted pain. If you think about it, you'll realize that there really is no evidence that the death penalty actually helps to lower crime rates. Some criminals will do all the damage they need to then either commit suicide or try to do suicide-by-cop. So, trying to threaten these people with the death penalty will do nothing because they already plan on dying. Also, what is the difference between executing a criminal and giving them life in prison? Either way, they will not be able to go back on the street. So, criminals should just have to get life in prison for a serious crime. This would be helpful for people that are wrongfully convicted because if new evidence arises, then the person can be retried and later proven innocent.






http://www.deathpenalty.org/section.php?id=13

My Cousin

My cousin was a great man. He kept telling the executioner, ""I am an innocent man, convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do." However, they did not listen. He tried everything to save his children. He ran to them but could not find them so he ran outside and tried to get to them from there but he couldn't. The prosecutors said he did not try but I know he did. There were even witnesses there to prove that he was trying to get back inside to help them. He is not a bad person. He did not deserve to die that way. Some witnesses tried to tell the police that he was not trying hard enough to save them but I know him; he would do anything to get into that house. He had the chance to plead guilty and take life in prison but he chose not to. He chose to keep saying he was innocent because he truly was. Now, I wish he did just plead guilty because when this new evidence came about, he would have been freed. I just wish they had looked more into his case before making any final decisions.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412090169dec09,0,7443588,full.story

Facts About the Death Penalty

The death penalty has been a very talked about topic for many years. There have been so many debates on whether or not the death penalty should be kept in place. Did you know that about 68 percent of people in America said they are in favor the death penalty while 32% of people said it should be abolished (Soss, Langbein, Metelko)? More people believe that the death penalty should be abolished so why is it still around? There are too many innocent men and women that are being sentenced to death. Prosecutors are more concerned about just closing the case quickly than taking the time to be sure that there is no other possible person or reasoning that will make the accused innocent. If they had taken the time with my cousin's case, he might have been proven innocent.

Soss, Joe, Laura Langbein, and Alan R. Metelko. "Why do White Americans Support the Death Penalty?" Journal of Politics 65.2 (2003): 397-421. Web. 9 October 2013.

My Story

 My cousin, Cameron Willingham, was a great man. He loved his family and would do anything for them. This is why I was in such shock when I heard the news that he had killed his family in a house fire. I could not believe it. My cousin is not the person to do this. He would never do anything to harm them. In 1992, he was convicted in Texas and twelve years later, in 2004, he was executed.  
In 1992, prosecutors believed that this was an arson fire. They thought he would actually do this to his family. I knew he would never though. Then, later on when new evidence came about that proved this was just an accident (the fire started on its own from somewhere inside the house), I was furious. I could not believe they killed this great man who did nothing wrong. It was never his fault. Our whole family could not believe it. For this reason, I am completely against the death penalty. No innocent person should be put to death and no family should have to deal with this.




http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/1325