Published: June 27, 2009 08:16 am      

Camm conviction overturned; prosecutor will ask Indiana Supreme Court for new hearing

The Indiana Supreme Court on Friday overturned the conviction of David Camm in the deaths of his wife and two children, but left the door open for a third trial.

Camm, 45, was convicted in 2002 and again in 2006 of murdering his wife, Kimberly, 35, and their children, Bradley, 7, and Jill, 5, at their Georgetown home in 2000.

Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson said he does not know whether they will again try Camm, who at one time was an Indiana State Police trooper. The state attorney general’s office, which handled the appeals process, and Henderson plan to request a new hearing in front of the Indiana Supreme Court.

They have 30 days to file the request, but Henderson said there is a “high burden” on the state to show the need for a new hearing.

Henderson admitted concern that so much time has passed and the impact that might have on witnesses. He also must consider the evidence that the Supreme Court has ruled is not admissible.

“We’ll have to look at the evidence they’ve taken away from us and decide if we’ll have evidence to go to trial,” Henderson said. “I’m not certain where we’ll be at the end of the day.”

Reason for reversal

The Supreme Court ruled 4-1 that the prosecution should not have been allowed to claim at the second trial that Camm molested his daughter without presenting evidence to support that claim.

“The erroneous admission of speculative evidence and argument that the defendant molested his daughter, combined with the state’s use of this evidence as the foundation of its case, requires that the convictions be reversed,” Justice Brent Dickson wrote in the majority opinion.

The prosecution had offered as a motive for murder that Camm had molested his daughter, and she had or was going to tell her mother what happened.

Experts testified that the daughter had injuries consistent with sexual abuse, but did not provide evidence to show that Camm was the one who molested her, the Supreme Court found.

“Missing from this record is any competent evidence of the premise that the defendant molested the child, a hole in the proof the state admits,” the justices wrote.

The Supreme Court also ruled that the trial court erred in allowing the jury to hear testimony from a friend of Camm’s wife about when he was expected to be home. Cindy Mattingly testified that Kimberly told her she was expecting her husband to arrive home between 7 and 7:30 p.m. The murders occurred at around 7:30 p.m.

The Supreme Court said Mattingly’s statements were hearsay and did not go toward establishing state of mind, so they should not have been allowed.

Eleven witnesses testified that Camm was playing basketball at a nearby gymnasium from about 7 to 9:22 p.m., but the prosecution has argued that he snuck home, murdered his family and then returned to the gym, which was a five-minute drive away.



Camm family, attorneys happy

For the family, it has been a long 13 months as they waited for the court’s decision.

“We were confident it was going to turn our way,” Camm family spokesman Sam Lockhart said by phone Friday morning. “We didn’t know what the issues would be, or when it would happen exactly, but we felt all along the [Indiana] Supreme Court would rule this way.

“We’re just happy, we’re glad the Supreme Court saw the truth and did the right thing,” said Lockhart, David Camm’s uncle, who, with other family members, has worked tirelessly and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to prove his nephew’s innocence.

Lockhart added that “there was never a single piece of evidence that Dave molested Jill. The court said that before, and when the prosecution brought that before the jury anyway, we felt pretty sure it wasn’t going to stick.”

Camm’s attorney, Stacy Uliana, said it is “very rare” for two murder convictions to be overturned. She said the defense will go forward as if there will be a third trial.

“I think it’s a just decision. I know it may not be a popular decision because of the money involved, but you can’t put a price on a fair trial and a fair decision,” Uliana said.

She said Camm will remain in prison until his defense team files a motion to reduce bond in Warrick County, where the second trial took place. Henderson said there likely won’t be a bond-reduction hearing until after the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the case again.

A potential third trial would likely be moved to a county other than Floyd or Warrick.



A long ‘nightmare’

Henderson said he has talked to Kimberly’s family since the decision was issued Friday morning.

“They’re disappointed. At least to this point, that nightmare has reopened for them, something they’ve had to deal with for eight years,” Henderson said.

Camm was first convicted by a Floyd County jury in 2002. The Court of Appeals reversed the decision, finding that the prosecution’s evidence of his poor character, such as extramarital conduct, prejudiced the jury.

After further investigation, DNA evidence linked Charles Boney to the murder. A sweatshirt with Boney’s DNA was found under the son’s body, and his palm print was found at the scene.

Boney claimed he provided Camm a gun and was present at the murder.

Boney was convicted in 2006 of three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to 225 years in prison.

A second trial for Camm was held in Warrick County in 2006. The defense argued that Boney was solely responsible for the murders, but the jury convicted Camm of three counts of murder and sentenced him to life without parole.

Henderson said since Boney has already lost an appeal of his conviction, he could be forced to testify if a third Camm trial is held.

The Supreme Court argued that the judge in the second trial should have been more careful in allowing mention of the alleged molestation.

After the first trial, the Court of Appeals wrote that the trial court should “carefully consider whether the highly inflammatory nature of this evidence substantially outweighs the probative value of any evidence” that Camm molested his daughter.



Dissenting opinions

Henderson said he had no reservations about bringing up the accusations of molestation.

“I was always confident the decision would be affirmed,” he said.

Chief Justice Randall Shepard wrote in a dissenting opinion that there is “no entitlement to a perfect trial.”

Shepard wrote that he believes the reversal is “unwarranted” because of the rest of the evidence. He noted that Camm allegedly confessed guilt to three different inmates.

“While we are disappointed that a new trial is required, we agree with the court on the key point: There was sufficient evidence of Camm’s guilt to support the jury’s verdicts,” Greg Zoeller, Indiana’s attorney general, said in a written statement.

Shepard also noted suspicious behavior by Camm — calling a distant police agency and turning down three suggestions that medical help be sent before administering CPR; calling the morning after the murder to request about his wife’s employment benefits; and requesting a crime-scene cleaning business clean out the vehicle with evidence of the murders that same day.

Henderson said the decision to retry Camm will not be made based on money, although the trials have already cost the county millions.

“If the decision is made to retry Camm, we can’t afford to let a triple murderer walk the streets,” Henderson said. “Justice ultimately can’t be for sale.”

— Freelance journalist Lisa Hurt Kozarovich contributed to this report.