Cats

I didn't know what to name this last blogpost on The Devil & Sherlock Holmes, but I just decided to name it cats. I don't even like cats, mainly just the concept of them lol. Knowing that this was a true story, I was hoping and praying that Todd was innocent, and he was, but he didn't have a happy ending.

A different, more knowledgeable fire examiner by the name of Hurst Re-examined the home, upon Willingham's family's instruction. Being a more skilled Fire examiner than the other people who examined Willingham's home, he realized that Willingham was innocent. Most other "trained fire exingushers, had no more than a high school education, and recieved certification through a two week training program. Hurst on the other hand, had a college education and used the scientific method to look through the house. With his experiments, he found most of the former fire examiner's research to be wrong. Unfortunatly, it was too late for Willingham. No one would grant him an extention, with the results reaching him only 3 days before. Willingham was wrongfully convicted, and was executed. Weeks later Hurst's results reached Tennesse state legislation, where it was realized that they had first wrongly executed an innocent man.

Thankfully, only a few days after conviction it was made mandatory in Tennesse that the scientific method be used. This likely saved many innocent lives, where people where wrongly convicted for things they didn't do. I thought this was so sad, but bittersweet at the same time. Being in prison for 12 years does mental things to people where they wouldn't be able to function in the real world, and for Todd, his wife had left him, and he had no one but his parents. Days before his execution he said himself that he was ready to go, he no longer feared dying, he knew he was going to go to heaven and rest with his Children.