"She didn't think Daniel Dougherty started the fire that killed his
two young sons. She thought it was caused by an electric fan near the
front door. That's what Kathleen Schuler told investigators soon after a 1985
blaze destroyed the Oxford Circle rowhouse where she lived with
Dougherty, her son, and his boys. The police sought to set her straight: It was arson, and they believed that Dougherty did it. Schuler couldn't accept that. Even later, after she and Dougherty broke up, she went back to
police to tell them that she and Dougherty were smokers, and so was a
babysitter and other visitors. She hadn't emptied the ashtrays on the
day of the fire. On Wednesday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, Schuler, now
Kathleen McGovern, was summoned by prosecutors seeking to convict
Dougherty of murder in his second trial, and became the first witness to
suggest what is a central claim of Dougherty's defense - that the blaze
might not be arson. Dougherty, 56, has insisted from the start that he awoke to a house
ablaze, ran outside, then tried desperately to rescue 3-year-old John
and 4-year-old Daniel Jr. He's counting on advances in fire science to
free him. Sixteen years ago in 2000, Dougherty was convicted and sentenced to
death for setting the fire at the Carver Street rowhouse. He was granted
a new trial in 2014 after an appellate court ruled that his lawyer's
failures had so skewed the original proceeding that "no reliable
adjudication of guilt or innocence took place." His death sentence was vacated in 2012, becoming a life sentence. The retrial holds national implications as an example of cases in
which evolving fire science has freed some inmates and brought the guilt
of others into question. Prosecutors insist that the original guilty verdict was correct.........On Wednesday, it was apparent that the passage of time was impacting
the trial, with memories faded and witnesses dead or unavailable. Retired Assistant Fire Marshal John Quinn, whose arson finding helped
send Dougherty to death row, is too ill to testify. His previous
testimony will be read into the record. On Wednesday, testimony from a Philadelphia homicide detective, now
deceased, was read to the jury. He interviewed Dougherty hours after the
fire. Dougherty denied setting the blaze. He thought the likely cause was a
faulty electrical outlet into which the fan and a stereo were plugged.
Dougherty, then 25, wasn't charged until 14 years later, in 1999. His
estranged second wife, Adrienne Sussman, then battling him for custody
of their son, Stephen, called police and told them he had confessed to
her. She didn't testify at his original trial, and has since died."
