DAVID WILLIAMS: ARSON CHARGE DROPPED AND HE HAS BEEN FREED, KY3 NEWS REPORTS. CHARGED ON BASIS OF DOG SCENT; NEGATIVE LAB TESTS;

"He was charged with arson that resulted in injury or death after a fire investigation dog indicated it sniffed an accelerant on his jeans and in three places on the floor of the burned home. Days after the charge was filed, laboratory results found no trace of an accelerant. The prosecuting attorney's office says the case is dismissed for now, pending further investigation, because there is not sufficient evidence to proceed."

Reporters Sara Forhetz and Abby Wuellner: KY3 News;

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BACKGROUND; David Williams is charged with arson for the fire that killed his fiancée’s three children and injured their maternal grandfather on March 15. Now lab results on samples from the crime scene contradict evidence cited by investigators. Where a trained dog smelled a fire accelerant, testing did not. In the probable cause statement used as the basis of the arson charge, a fire marshal said the dog alerted to an accelerant in three different spots at the fire scene: the front porch, the front door and the living room. The dog also alerted to a spot on a pant leg of jeans that Williams said he put on after he was awoken as the fire was burning. "I was told that laboratory tests on the jeans and samples from the floor of the home did not detect any accelerant. Still, we trust the observations of an accelerant identified by fire marshals and trained dogs,” Greene County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson said on Tuesday. "Their testing is invalidated,” said Williams’ defense attorney, Andy Hosmer. Hosmer says dogs cannot be trusted alone. William's preliminary hearing is set for May 3, 2010. (Prosecutor's will have to prove there is sufficient evidence on which to send him to trial).

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"SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The man accused of setting a fire that killed his fiancée's three children no longer faces an arson charge. Greene County prosecutors dropped the charge against David Williams on Thursday," the story by KY3 News reporters Sara Forhetz and Abby Wuellner begins, under the heading, " Prosecutors drop arson charge for triple-fatal fire in Springfield MO."

"Investigators suspected Williams of setting the fire on March 15 in a rental home on West Olive Street," the story continues.

"He was charged with arson that resulted in injury or death after a fire investigation dog indicated it sniffed an accelerant on his jeans and in three places on the floor of the burned home.

Days after the charge was filed, laboratory results found no trace of an accelerant. The prosecuting attorney's office says the case is dismissed for now, pending further investigation, because there is not sufficient evidence to proceed.

Violet Watson, the mother of Alexis, 7; Kelsey, 5; and Devin, 4; said she believed her fiance was innocent. Williams was released from the Greene County jail on Thursday."The story can be found at:

http://www.ky3.com/news/local/91879254.html

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;