Ed Graf: Retrial; Day 9; Defence expert witness - a fire investigator who used to work for the Texas State Fire Marshall's Office - says there was not enough information to determine if the fire was an accident or incendiary. Poses three possible causes of the blaze: "The boys started it with matches, the hot sun ignited fumes from inside the shed and Ed Graf Jr. started the fire." KXVV TV. (The defence rested its case; Closing arguments to begin Monday);

STORY:  "Fire investigator: We may never know what started shed fire," by reporter Adan Hammons, published by KXVV TV on October 17,2014.

GIST: "The defense rested around 11:00 Friday morning in the McLennan County Courthouse during the capital murder retrial of Ed Graf Jr. This was after the defense called its final expert Tommy Sing who is a fire investigator who used to work for the Texas State Fire Marshal's Office. Sing testified he agrees with some parts of another fire expert the defense called Thursday, but he disagrees with another part. He says the actual cause of the fire is undetermined but he disagreed on the classification of an accident. Sing told the jury there's just not enough information to determine if it was an accident or incendiary, meaning the classification would be undetermined as well. He also said there's not enough information to know if the doors to the shed were open or not either. He says the removal of the shed the day of the fire was detrimental to determining the cause.

He did give three possible causes for the fire, though. Those are: the boys started it with matches, the hot sun ignited fumes from inside the shed and Ed Graf Jr. started the fire.  Sing also agreed with District Attorney Abel Reyna when he said just because the cause of a fire is undetermined, it doesn't mean there was no criminal act. The defense rested after speaking with the judge and the state outside of the jury for around 20 minutes. The state then called on three rebuttal witnesses. After the final witness, the judge recessed the trial until Monday morning at 8:30. Closing arguments are set to begin sometime Monday morning and directly after the jury will begin deliberations."

See related Waco Tribune story:  "In state rebuttal testimony, prosecutors read the testimony of Trey Bagby from Graf’s first trial. Bagby was 15 at the time and said he was playing with Jason and Joby and they decided to ride bikes. They only had two and he asked the boys if they had another bike he could ride. He said they told him there was one in the shed but they were not allowed to go in the shed. They told him that Graf would spank them if they went in the shed, so they never did. Bagby said he went up to the boys’ mother after the funeral and tried to hug her but Graf stepped between them and pushed him away with his hand. The last witness, Rick Grimes, a state rebuttal witness, testified that he is a longtime friend of Graf’s and said he visited with Graf in jail and by phone while Graf waited for his retrial. Prosecutors listened to conversations between the two, which were recorded by equipment at the jail. Grimes said Graf called McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna a vulgar name and said whoever drafted the current indictment against him is a “dumb ass.” He also said Graf was confident he would be acquitted, saying the state was going to get “O.J.ed,” a reference to Hall of Fame football player O.J. Simpson, who was acquitted of murdering his wife and her friend but was later found responsible for their deaths in a civil lawsuit. Defense attorneys asked Judge Matt Johnson if they could cross-examine Grimes on Monday morning to give them a chance to review hours of jail recordings of Graf and Grimes talking."

The entire story can be found at: 

http://www.kxxv.com/story/26817555/fire-investigator-we-may-never-know-what-started-shed-fire

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 

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
 
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Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;