Texas Bar seeks punishment for prosecutor in death penalty conviction

By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The State Bar of Texas has sought punishment for the prosecutor in a 1992 trial who is suspected of withholding evidence that could have cleared a man convicted of setting a fire that killed his three daughters and was later executed. Death penalty opponents have said Texas may have executed an innocent man when it sent Cameron Todd Willingham to the death chamber in 2004 after he was convicted of murder in the 1991 house fire, largely on the testimony of a prison informant who told a jury that Willingham had confessed to the crime. The Texas Bar Association filed a petition this month with a district court to discipline the prosecutor in the case, John Jackson, who could be disbarred. "Before, during, and after the 1992 trial, Respondent knew of the existence of evidence that tended to negate the guilt of Willingham and failed to disclose that evidence to defense counsel," the petition said. Jackson was not immediately available for comment but has maintained the prosecution was proper. Last year he wrote in an email to cable channel CNN: "Willingham was a psychopathic killer who murdered his three children." The bar association petition said prison informant Johnny Webb received preferential treatment, such as having his charges reduced and speeding up the eligibility of his parole, at the request of Jackson, who failed to notify defense of the favors given in exchange for testimony. The Texas Forensic Science Commission said in a 2011 report that faulty science may have been a factor in a determination of the cause of the deadly house fire. In his last words, Willingham said at the state's death chamber in Huntsville: "The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man - convicted of a crime I did not commit." (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Eric Beech)