PASSAGE OF THE DAY: “Substantial changes in fire science have significantly altered modern fire investigation standards and accepted practices. Current fire investigations rely on a modern understanding of fire dynamics and the scientific method — all of which was absent from the investigation in this case,” Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) Assistant Supervisor ADA Carrie Wood said. “A review of Mr. Staten’s conviction, which included a report from a former ATF Special Agent and Certified Fire Investigator, led us to conclude that there is little credible information that could stand up his murder conviction today. We are pleased that the Court of Common Pleas vacated Mr. Staten’s conviction and granted our motion to withdraw all charges against him.” “Due to the passage of time, we unfortunately may never know how the fire began that killed Charles Harris nearly four decades ago. Modern technologies such as smoke detectors have made most residential fires survivable, and my office will continue to work with our public safety partners in the city to achieve that fully realizable goal.”
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The fire was investigated by the Philadelphia Fire Department’s Fire Marshal’s Office along with Philadelphia Police. A then-lieutenant with the Fire Marshal on the scene told investigators that the fire had been intentionally set in the vestibule by an “open flame applied to an accelerant.” The following day, however, a chemical analysis by the Philadelphia Criminalistics Laboratory showed no accelerant was detected in the samples of floorboards taken from the vestibule. In 2020, the Pennsylvania Innocence Project filed a new Post Conviction Relief Act petition on Staten’s behalf. After reviewing Staten’s arrest and conviction, officials concluded that the Fire Marshal’s origin and cause determinations were not supportable under modern fire investigation standards and that the cause of the fire should be considered undetermined, rather than arson. "
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PHL17 NSTORY: "1984 arson murder suspect exonerated: DA," by Reporter Jessica Yakublovsky, published by News 17 on February 5, 2023.
GIST: "The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has announced the exoneration of a man who was convicted of a 1984 North Philadelphia house fire that claimed the life of a man and injured three others.
District Attorney Larry Krasner says Harold Staten has now been exonerated.
According to police information from October 30, 1984, a fire began at approximately 3:38 a,m, on the 3000 block of North Percy Street when a row home caught fire. That fire claimed the life of Charles Harris who died at the hospital due to thermal burns.
At the time, police interviewed several witnesses, and on March 26, 1986, Harold Staten was arrested for murder and arson. His arrest was based on the information from a 17-year-old witness, who told detectives that she saw Staten at the door of the house the night of the fire.
Staten was convicted in October following a two-day bench trial in which the Fire Marshal lieutenant testified that the fire was deliberately set using an accelerant and the 17-year-old witness gave conflicting accounts of having seen Staten outside the home.
Staten was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
After a later cross-examination, the 17-year-old admitted to using cocaine the night of the fire.
Information undermining the 17-year-old’s credibility would be uncovered years later in 1988 when her roommate testified that the witness came home from a disco on the night of the fire so “drunk, pissy drunk” and “really intoxicated… very intoxicated,” that he and her boyfriend had to carry her upstairs to bed.
“Substantial changes in fire science have significantly altered modern fire investigation standards and accepted practices. Current fire investigations rely on a modern understanding of fire dynamics and the scientific method — all of which was absent from the investigation in this case,” Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) Assistant Supervisor ADA Carrie Wood said. “A review of Mr. Staten’s conviction, which included a report from a former ATF Special Agent and Certified Fire Investigator, led us to conclude that there is little credible information that could stand up his murder conviction today. We are pleased that the Court of Common Pleas vacated Mr. Staten’s conviction and granted our motion to withdraw all charges against him.”
“Due to the passage of time, we unfortunately may never know how the fire began that killed Charles Harris nearly four decades ago. Modern technologies such as smoke detectors have made most residential fires survivable, and my office will continue to work with our public safety partners in the city to achieve that fully realizable goal.”
The fire was investigated by the Philadelphia Fire Department’s Fire Marshal’s Office along with Philadelphia Police. A then-lieutenant with the Fire Marshal on the scene told investigators that the fire had been intentionally set in the vestibule by an “open flame applied to an accelerant.” The following day, however, a chemical analysis by the Philadelphia Criminalistics Laboratory showed no accelerant was detected in the samples of floorboards taken from the vestibule.
In 2020, the Pennsylvania Innocence Project filed a new Post Conviction Relief Act petition on Staten’s behalf. After reviewing Staten’s arrest and conviction, officials concluded that the Fire Marshal’s origin and cause determinations were not supportable under modern fire investigation standards and that the cause of the fire should be considered undetermined, rather than arson."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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/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; |
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.
Lawyer Radha Natarajan;
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801
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