Texas inmate Cameron Todd Willingham, who was in prison for killing his three children, maintained he was innocent right until he was executed in December 2004.
At the time, state officials ignored Willingham's claim that he did not set the fire inside his Corsicana home in 1991, killing his 2-year-old daughter and 1-year-old twins.
But since then the prosecutor in the case, John H. Jackson, has been accused of providing false evidence of the defendant's guilt through the testimony of a jailhouse informant, the non-profit news organization The Marshall Project reported Sunday.
The informant, Johnny E. Webb, testified that Willingham told him he set the fire, a claim Webb later tried to recant. Jackson allegedly went out of his way to prevent that from happening.
"In 2000, [Webb] sent a formal motion to recant to the Navarro County District Attorney's Office that was forwarded to Jackson, but never put in Willingham's court file or shared with his lawyers," the non-profit reported.
Jackson also apparently conspired with a wealthy man named Charles S. Pearce Jr. to bribe Webb. The lawyer had Pearce give Webb a check in the amount of $10,000, according to The Marshall Project. Another $2,000 was deposited into the inmate's commissary account.
Jackson admitted to offering Webb assistance but said it had nothing to do with his testimony, the news organization reported.
The forensic evidence surrounding the fire was also refuted. Willingham was charged with arson, but fire experts told the Chicago Tribune there was no evidence suggesting Willingham was responsible.
"It was just a fire," Gerald Hurst, a chemist who has investigated fires throughout his career, told the newspaper back in late 2004.
By the time the forensic evidence was called into question Willingham was already executed by lethal injection.
"I am an innocent man, convicted of a crime I did not commit." Willingham said before his death, according to the Chicago Tribune. "I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do."
The Innocence Project said Monday it has filed a Texas bar grievance against Jackson, the Associated Press reported.
