Death penalty proponents like to say that it has never been established that an innocent person has been executed in the United States. That may no longer be the case. Arson experts have found that Texas executed a man whose crime may not have been a crime at all. The fire for which he was executed appears to have been an accidental one. Junk science and inadequately trained experts are the culprit.

Update: Don't miss JR's comment below. S/he is the son of one of the experts in the case and provides a lot more information.

Dan Froomkin at the Washington Post has more on Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents Dinner, as does today's New York Times. But it's Froomkin's personal account of the dinner I found most interesting. He got to meet Karl Rove, whom he describes as "charming" and not looking very worried at all. Dan explains why it would have been inappropriate for him to ask Rove any questions about PlameGate or his last grand jury appearance. He also posits that the annual dinner is past its prime.

Indeed, if the press and this particular White House had an even moderately functional professional relationship, then a chance to build personal relationships would be a nice bonus. But it's not a functional professional relationship. From the president down to the freshest press office intern, this White House seems to delight in not answering even our most basic questions.

So the last thing in the world we need is a big party where the only appropriate mode of communication is sucking up.

Mike Nifong, Durham County District Attorney, has won the Democratic primary election. Since there is no Republican candidate, he retains his job for another term.

Now that the election is out of the way, maybe he will have time to take a look at the defense photos showing Reade Seligman at the ATM machine at 12:24 am, a critical time period for the alleged rape.

by TChris

A "turning point" has finally been reached in Iraq. How do we know? The ever-optimistic president said so yesterday, on the third anniversary of his "Mission Accomplished" speech. Remember "Mission Accomplished"?

It didn't turn out that way.

Violence in Iraq continued instead of ebbed. In the six weeks from the start of the invasion to Bush's speech, 139 U.S. soldiers had died. In the three years since, as of Sunday, there have been another 2,258 U.S. military deaths in Iraq -- an average of 63 each month.

The latest "turning point" may mark a turn from disaster to chaos.

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has filed his response to various reporters' motions to quash his subpoenas for records and notes.

Thanks to Tom Maguire for hosting the 45 page response, here and here.

I've only skimmed them, so I'll be back later with some thoughts. In the meantime, feel free to weigh in, or for analysis, check in with Empty Wheel.

Related: Jane at FDL has a new Karl Rove timeline.

by TChris

In response to a lawsuit that was filed to enforce a Freedom of Information request, the Bush administration says it will release Secret Service logs of Jack Abramoff's visits to the White House. The logs probably won't resolve an ongoing mystery:

It is not clear if the logs will resolve the issue of how Mr. Abramoff and one of his lobbying clients, the chief of an Indian tribe in Texas, were able to attend the May 2001 reception with Mr. Bush, since Mr. Abramoff's name was not on the guest list for the event. The White House has said it cannot explain how Mr. Abramoff was able to enter the White House complex that day.

Maybe he used his key to the back door.

by TChris

Pearl Jam joins Neil Young, the Dixie Chicks, and the Rolling Stones with a song of protest.

World Wide Suicide, already frying the airwaves with indignation, is a stormy anti-war rant tailor-made for Eddie Vedder's howling rasp.

Here's a review of the album. (Update: Alert readers called attention to the omission of Pink's protest song. If you've heard other recent protest songs, feel free to list them in the comments.)

Former mayor Rudy Giuliani campaigned in Iowa today. He said if he thinks he can win, he will run for President in 2008.

It's time to get his history out in the blogosphere. The man is not qualified. People think he is some sort of hero because he didn't fall apart during 9/11. He is not. He was a prosecutor who loved putting people in jail and a Mayor who trounced the downtrodden.

How low can he go? A new CBS poll finds Bush's approval rating at his lowest ever, 33%.

Only 33 percent approve of his job performance, Mr. Bush's lowest approval rating yet in CBS News polls. A majority - 58 percent of those polled - say they disapprove of the president. Mr. Bush appears to be losing support from his own party. His approval rating among Republicans has dropped to 68 percent.

Complete poll results are here. (pdf)

Accused Duke Lacrosse player Reade Seligman's lawyer filed a motion (pdf) today seeking recusal of the DA. It's a great motion, you should read the whole thing. It lays out the undisputed and disputed evidence, has new details, and alleges the D.A. was motivated by the primary election which is being held tomorrow and a desire to claim the national spotlight.

The motion also alleges he improperly injected himself in the lineup, causing the Durham Police Department to violate their own procedures which are embodied in a police department order.

Back in February, we wrote about Larisa Alexandrovna's article at Raw Story reporting that at the time Valerie Plame was outed in July, 2003 by Robert Novak, "she was part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran." Larisa described the import:

The revelation that Iran was the focal point of Plame's work raises new questions as to possible other motivating factors in the White House's decision to reveal the identity of a CIA officer working on tracking a WMD supply network to Iran, particularly when the very topic of Iran's possible WMD capability is of such concern to the Administration.

Today on Hardball, MSNBC reporter David Schuster confirms that Plame was working on Iran. Crooks and Liars has the video.

Here's downtown Denver this morning, taken by 5280's Jeff Panis. Larger version here. Update: Police estimate the crowd at 75,000 and stretched for a mile. That's huge for a city the size of Denver.

Tom Tancredo is stewing today. As I wrote over at 5280 this morning: