Ernest Willis is likely to be the eighth person exonerated and freed from Texas’s death row. He would be the 117th person freed nationwide since 1973. Willis was sentenced to death 17 years ago for allegedly setting a house fire that killed two people. Now the state’s own fire expert, Gerald Hurst, has concluded: “There is not a single item of physical evience in this case which supports a finding of arson.” He labeled some of the “scientific” evidence at Willis’s first trial as “absurd.” The district attorney in Fort Stockton, Texas, said that he would file a motion today requesting the dismissal of all charges. “I don’t have to decide whether he’s innocent or not, but I think that’s probably a probability—that he is innocent,” said district attorney Ori White. A federal district judge in San Antonio had ruled in July that Willis must be either freed or given a new trial, stating that there is “strong reason to be concerned that Willis may be actually innocent.” (San Antonio Express-News, Oct. 5, 2004). See DPIC’s new report on innocence. Note: All charges against Willis were dismissed and he was formally released on October 6. See Cases of Innocence #117.