New Technology Is Throwing Doubt Onto Certain Arson Cases

March 22, 2012

New Technology Is Throwing Doubt Onto Certain Arson Cases

New forensic technology and fire research methods are casting doubt onto arson convictions from decades ago -- and continue to provide doubt in the prosecution of many new arson cases. Much as DNA testing has helped to exonerate inmates on death row, newer, more accurate methods of arson investigation are helping those convicted or accused of arson to proclaim their innocence.

John Hall, the director of analysis and research for the National Fire Protection Association, for example, told Sci-Tech Today that he believes innocent people have been thrown in jail based on unsound evidence.

One individual questioning his conviction is George Souliotes, who was convicted of arson stemming from an incident 13 years ago that killed three tenants in a building he owned -- a mother and her two children, who he had planned to evict. The L.A. Times reports that leading scientists and investigators are now dismissing the evidence used to convict Souliotes. At a hearing in early 2012 five fire investigators told U.S. Magistrate Michael J. Seng that the evidence was faulty.

Namely, fire investigators used to believe that gasoline and other "fire accelerants" left evidence such as melted steel, certain patterns and tiny cracks etched in glass. However, a 1992 study by the National Fire Protection Association dispelled these myths. Unfortunately that study took years to become widely accepted in the field. Even today, many leading experts report that fire investigators without much training still believe in the old way of proving arson.

Another case involves Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted in 1991 based on testimony from the fire investigator and evidence of "pour patterns" throughout the house. He was executed in 2004, but now investigators believe that the fire was accidental.

Craig Beyler, chairman of the International Association of Fire Safety Science, has noted that radiant heat or melted plastic can cause the appearance of pour patterns without the use of gasoline or other fire accelerant. John Lentini, a fire investigator based in Florida, told Sci-Tech Today that old theories that a fire's speed and heat indicated arson are "much less significant than previously thought."

Innocence projects and criminal defense attorneys are questioning arson cases around the country. If you have been falsely accused of arson, contact a criminal defense attorney familiar with arson cases and the questionable evidence sometimes used to prosecute them.

Article provided by Rutter & Russin
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