William Amor: Illinois; Outdated arson 'science' investigations; The Illinois Innocence Project is challenging the ‘junk science’ which led to his conviction for first degree murder and 45 year prison term (21 years already served)..."Springfield attorney Erica Nichols Cook previously worked for the Illinois Innocence Project, and although she now works for the Illinois Office of the Appellate Defender, she continues to work on Amor’s case. She says the field of fire science has evolved significantly since the Miceli fire. “Experts and fire investigators are now required to base their opinions on data and scientific findings, and burn patterns like those seen in Amor’s case are not sufficient,” she said. “Neither is an uncorroborated confession.” When the Illinois Innocence Project accepted Amor’s case, the group asked Douglas Carpenter, a professional fire investigator from Massachusetts, to review the case. Carpenter’s report condemns the investigative methods used after the fire that killed Marianne Miceli, saying the original investigators “relied upon misapplication of the scientific method, as well as scientifically unreliable myths and misconceptions that had permeated the fire investigation community for years prior to the time of their investigation and testimony."

STORY: "Challenging ‘junk science’ in arson case," by reporter Patrick Yeagle, published by The Illinois Times on May 19, 2016.

GIST: "A Naperville man is asking a judge to overturn his murder conviction on the grounds that the prosecution’s case was built on junk science. William Amor spent the last 21 years behind bars for the death of his mother-in-law in a 1995 condo fire that investigators ruled as arson. His exoneration bid hinges on convincing the judge that new scientific research debunks old beliefs about how fire behaves. The Illinois Innocence Project, based at the University of Illinois Springfield, took on Amor’s case and is working to get his conviction overturned.........Amor was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to 45 years in prison. His conviction was largely based on his contested confession and testimony from fire investigators who acted as the state’s expert witnesses.
Springfield attorney Erica Nichols Cook previously worked for the Illinois Innocence Project, and although she now works for the Illinois Office of the Appellate Defender, she continues to work on Amor’s case. She says the field of fire science has evolved significantly since the Miceli fire. “Experts and fire investigators are now required to base their opinions on data and scientific findings, and burn patterns like those seen in Amor’s case are not sufficient,” she said. “Neither is an uncorroborated confession.” When the Illinois Innocence Project accepted Amor’s case, the group asked Douglas Carpenter, a professional fire investigator from Massachusetts, to review the case. Carpenter’s report condemns the investigative methods used after the fire that killed Marianne Miceli, saying the original investigators “relied upon misapplication of the scientific method, as well as scientifically unreliable myths and misconceptions that had permeated the fire investigation community for years prior to the time of their investigation and testimony. He says the current standard handbook for fire investigation was first published in 1992 – three years before the Miceli fire – but the methods it contained were resisted by investigators until the early 2000s. Widely used benchmarks like the “normal” speed for a fire to burn versus an intentional fire were untested at the time, he says, yet they were treated as science and have since been debunked. In Amor’s case, Carpenter says the original investigators failed to recognize the effects of “flashover,” in which heat from a fire in a room rises to the ceiling but can’t escape, so it forms a superheated layer overhead and eventually causes the entire room – including materials below the fire’s origin – to “autoignite.” Because many fire investigators previously believed that fire only burns upward, burnt flooring like that found in the Miceli fire was assumed to mean the fire started on the floor, probably with a flammable liquid."

The entire story can be found at:

http://illinoistimes.com/article-17235-challenging-%E2%80%98junk-science%E2%80%99-in-arson-case.html

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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.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com;

Harold Levy;

Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;