RELEASE: "Arson exoneration in Michigan," a news release by the Michigan Innocence Clinic published by the Wrongful Convictions Blog on January 23, 2014; Thanks to the Wrongful Convictions Blog for drawing this case to our attention;
GIST: "The Michigan Innocence Clinic is very pleased to announce (January 22, 2014) that our
client Victor Caminata was exonerated today at the Wexford County
Courthouse in Cadillac, Michigan. Mr. Caminata had served 5 years and 2
weeks of wrongful imprisonment for arson before he was released on July
2, 2013, when the Michigan Attorney General’s Office agreed that his
conviction should be vacated because its experts no longer stood by the
arson determination that had sent Mr. Caminata to prison to serve 9 to
40 years. Today, the AG dismissed the case with prejudice. Mr. Caminata was convicted after the house he shared with his
then-girlfriend and their children burned in 2008. An initial fire
investigation concluded that the fire originated in the chimney, which
was connected to a wood stove. But after the police received an
anonymous tip, investigators re-examined the wreckage and found supposed
signs that the fire had been intentionally set to look like a chimney
fire. Remarkably, the state’s investigators never examined the interior
of the chimney, which is the most basic step a fire investigator is
required to take before ruling out a chimney fire. Today’s final dismissal came almost two years after we filed a motion
for relief from judgment for Mr. Caminata based on the conclusion of
our experts that the state’s fire investigators had committed
fundamental errors in violation of NFPA 921, that the supposed signs of
arson were spurious, and that the original determination that an
accidental chimney fire had burned the house was, in fact, correct."
The entire release can be found at:
http://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/2014/01/23/arson-exoneration-in-michigan/
See Michigan Radio (NPR) story by reporter Mark Brush (July 3, 2013) published under the heading "Michigan man convicted on 'junk science' is now free:"Many arson convictions around the country have been based on bad
science. To learn more about how this bad science made its way into
courtrooms you can check out Frontline's excellent series - "
Death by Fire."
http://michiganradio.org/post/michigan-man-convicted-junk-science-now-free
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I
have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses
several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of
the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this
powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and
myself get more out of the site.
The
Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible
years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr.
Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of
Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"
section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It
can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com;
