STORY: "DISMISSED: US federal court drops $30 million lawsuit brought by David Camm," by reporter Travis Kircher, published by WDBR on January 30, 2018.
GIST: "A $30 million lawsuit filed by David Camm, the man twice
convicted and once acquitted of murdering his wife and two children, has
been dismissed by a federal court. According to a news release
from the Indiana Attorney General's office, Camm's civil rights lawsuit
against members of the Indiana State Police, prosecutors and other
officials, was dismissed on Monday, Jan. 29, by a U.S. District Court. Camm,
a former Indiana State Police trooper, was accused of killing his wife,
Kim Camm, and two children, Brad and Jill Camm, on Sept. 28, 2000. Camm
was twice convicted of the murders and spent 13 years in prison before
he was finally acquitted in 2013. A second suspect, Charles Boney, was convicted of the three murders. Camm's
$30 million lawsuit against the state claimed that members of the legal
system and of law enforcement were negligent in their investigation,
and engaged in malicious prosecution. The U.S. District Court
ruled on Monday that the lawsuit should be dismissed because "probable
cause existed to charge Camm with murder" and some of the defendants are
immune from liability because of the Indiana Tort Claims Act. Background The
investigation began on Sept. 28, 2000 at 9:30 p.m., when the Indiana
State Police Sellersburg Post received a frantic phone call from Camm.
He said he had just returned home from playing basketball at the
Georgetown Community Church (roughly a four-minute drive away), to find
his wife Kim, his son Brad (age 7) and daughter Jill (age 5) shot to
death in his garage on Lockhart Road in Georgetown, Indiana. Three
days after the murders, Camm was arrested. Over the course of the
investigation, then-Floyd County Prosecutor Stan Faith said he
discovered that Camm was a serial adulterer -- with over a dozen women
coming forward to say Camm either propositioned them or had sexual
relations with them. They also said Kim was about to leave him, and that
5-year-old Jill had been sexually molested within a 12- to 24-hour time
period prior to her death. Additionally, prosecutors say tiny
microscopic blood stains on David Camm's t-shirt known as "high-velocity
impact spatter" proved that Camm was not only at the scene when the
shootings took place, but was within four feet of his daughter Jill at
the moment she was shot. Prosecutors not only accused Camm of cheating
on his wife, but also alleged that he'd molested his daughter. They
claimed that Kim found out about the alleged molestation and David Camm
opted to take matters into his own hands. But the case was far
from "clear cut," according to the defense. Camm couldn't have committed
the murders because 11 alibi witnesses -- including Camm's uncle, Sam
Lockhart -- claimed they were playing basketball with him at the time
the murders took place. The defense called the blood spatter evidence
"junk science," and demanded that the prosecution test DNA evidence on
an unidentified gray sweatshirt found on the scene -- one that was not
David Camm's. But the jury did not favor Camm, and in 2002, he was convicted of three counts of murder, and sentenced to 195 years in prison. That
changed in 2004, when the Indiana Court of Appeals overturned the
guilty verdict in the first of what would be several twists in the case.
Among other things, the court argued that the adultery evidence should
not have been presented, as it unfairly prejudiced the jury against
Camm. In the meantime, the new Floyd County Prosecutor, Keith
Henderson, had the DNA on the gray sweatshirt tested -- and the tests
unveiled some surprising results. Henderson said the shirt belonged to
Charles Boney, an ex-convict with a violent history. Additionally,
prosecutors matched a handprint found at the scene to Charles Boney. In
March 2005, Boney was arrested and charged with the murders. At the
same time, all charges against David Camm -- who was at that point on
bond awaiting his second trial -- were dropped. His reprieve was brief,
however, and later the same day, Indiana State Police vehicles quickly
arrived to take Camm back to jail as he was re-arrested and charged with
the murders of his wife and children -- only this time, the charges
stated that he had an accomplice: Charles Boney. In 2006, Camm and
Boney were tried at roughly the same time, but separately: Boney faced
trial in New Albany, while Camm, in an attempt to escape media hype, was
tried in Boonville, Indiana. Both men were found guilty. But
again, in June 2009, the Indiana Supreme Court overturned the guilty
verdict in his second trial, on the grounds that the prosecutor's
speculation that Camm molested his daughter -- without providing
sufficient evidence -- unfairly prejudiced the jury. Camm was
tried a third time in 2013 -- this time in Lebanon, Indiana. During that
trial, Camm's defense attorneys again chipped away at the blood stain
pattern analysis evidence brought by the prosecution. That trial also
saw the introduction of a new witness: Charles Boney, the man who is
currently serving a life sentence In the end, the jury acquitted Camm, and he was freed. Aftermath: "Thirteen
years, man. Thirteen years," David Camm told WDRB reporter Stephan
Johnson weeks later. "It's hard not to get up every morning and not be
happy. That's not to say there aren't difficult times, and this has not
been easy, man. It's not. But it's hard not to be grateful and try to
make the best of every day. And I do that each and every day." The
U.S. District Court's decision on Monday means Camm will not collect
$30 million in damages, as well as attorney fees and costs."
Read National Registry of Exonerations entry by Maurice Possley at the link below: "On the night of September 28, 2000, former Indiana state trooper, David Camm, called police and reported finding the bodies of his 35-year-old wife, Kim, and their two children, 7-year-old Brad and 5-year-old Jill, shot to death in the family’s garage in Georgetown, Indiana. Camm, who had retired as a state trooper four months earlier to work in the basement waterproofing business with an uncle, said he had been playing basketball at a church and came home around 9 p.m. to find Kim outside the family vehicle on the floor of the garage. He said he looked in the car and found the children. He thought Brad might still be alive, so he reached over Jill and took out the boy and put him on the floor and began performing CPR. When the boy did not respond, Camm, 36, called the Sellersburg, Indiana State Police post. On October 1, 2000, Camm was charged with three counts of murder primarily based on an analysis of the t-shirt he was wearing. A state forensic analyst said that some spatters of Jill’s blood were found on the shirt and were the result of high velocity blood spatter consistent with the spatter produced by shooting someone, Due to the extensive media coverage of the case, jurors were selected from nearby Johnson County and brought to Floyd County Superior Court for the trial in January 2002. The prosecution’s case was two-pronged—the t-shirt with the purported blood spatter, which was challenged by a defense expert, and extensive evidence about Camm’s personal life. Twelve women testified to a variety of relationships—some adulterous and some prolonged—with Camm. The prosecution contended that the motive was $750,000 in life insurance money. Camm maintained that he had left the house to play basketball from 7 p.m. until 9:20 p.m. when he came home and found the victims. Police determined that the shootings took place sometime after 7:30 p.m. when Kim would have arrived home with the children after Brad’s swimming practice. On March 17, 2002, the jury convicted Camm of three counts of murder. He was sentenced to 195 years in prison. In August 2004, the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the conviction and ordered a new trial. The court held that the introduction of the extramarital affairs had been unfairly prejudicial. Prior to the trial, a sweatshirt found under the boy's body was submitted for DNA testing. The DNA was not Camm's. The prosecution claimed the profile was submitted to the FBI's DNA database without finding a match, although evidence later showed the profile had not been submitted to the FBI database at all. Prior to the second trial, the defense obtained further DNA testing and at the defense urging, the unidentified profile was submitted to the FBI database. The DNA profile from the sweatshirt was linked to a man named Charles Boney. When questioned by police, Boney admitted owning the sweatshirt but said he had donated it to the Salvation Army prior to the shootings. After police matched Boney to a palm print found on the family’s vehicle, Boney gave an assortment of accounts, but ultimately said he had gone to the home to sell a gun to Camm and was outside of the garage when Camm shot the victims. Due to the extensive publicity, the case was moved to Warrick County Superior Court and Camm was charged with three counts of murder and a count of conspiracy to commit murder. Boney was tried separately in 2005 and was convicted of three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. He was sentenced to 225 years in prison. In 2006, at Camm’s second trial, the prosecution presented the blood spatter evidence, as well as three inmates who were housed in the same jail facility with Camm and who said that Camm had admitted the killings to them. Additionally, the prosecution presented Boney's testimony that he conspired with Camm to commit the murders and, for the first time, the prosecution suggested that Camm had molested his 5-year-old daughter. The prosecution contended that the daughter either had reported or was going to report the abuse to her mother, and that Camm killed the family to conceal the molestation. The prosecution presented autopsy evidence that found blunt force trauma to her genitals and a pathologist testified the injuries were consistent with molestation occurring within 24 hours of her death. The defense contended there was no evidence that Camm ever molested his daughter and contended that if there was evidence of molestation, it was caused by Boney, who was the sole perpetrator and had previously been convicted of assaulting women. But the defense evidence was barred by the trial judge. At the close of the prosecution’s case, the judge dismissed the conspiracy charge. On March 3, 2006, Camm was convicted again of three counts of murder. This time, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. In 2009, the Indiana Supreme Court reversed the convictions and sent the case back for a third trial. The Court held that Camm’s defense had been unfairly prejudiced by the introduction of the highly speculative evidence suggesting he had molested his daughter. In the fall of 2013, Camm went on trial a third time with another change of venue—this time to Boone County Superior Court in Lebanon, Indiana. Prior to the trial, the judge barred any testimony relating to molestation. Boney testified for the prosecution that he brought an untraceable gun to the Camm home on the night of the murders and that he was outside the garage when Camm killed his wife and children. The defense presented a Dutch forensic expert who testified that his analysis of the sweatshirt found at the scene showed the presence of Kim Camm’s DNA, suggesting Kim had struggled with Boney. The expert said he also found Boney’s DNA under one of Kim’s fingernails. On October 24, 2013, the jury acquitted Camm and he was released. In May 2014, Camm filed notice of a claim with Floyd County for $30 million."
http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=4291
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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/c
