WBRZ - Baton Rouge

A state judge in Texas refused to step aside in a hearing that could determine if a man was wrongfully executed even though prosecutors asked him to recuse himself.

Judge Charlie Baird says he'll preside over the case that could clear Cameron Willingham of setting a fire that killed his three daughters in Coresicana in 1991.

Willingham was executed six-years ago.

The Navarro County D.A. questions Barid's impartiality.

If Willingham is cleared, it would be the first time an authority in the nation's most active death-penalty state formally declared someone was innocent when they were put to death.