DALLAS (AP) — A Texas man convicted of setting a fire that killed his two stepsons was granted a new trial Wednesday by the state's highest criminal court, which sided with experts who question the fire investigation used to convict him.
Ed Graf's case is one of several flagged by a new state panel re-examining arson investigations. The Texas state fire marshal is working with criminal justice advocates who say many arson convictions have been won with the help of faulty scientific conclusions.
Graf was given life in prison for the 1986 fire in a backyard shed that killed 9-year-old Joby and 8-year-old Jason. Four reviews of the original fire forensics in Graf's case, including one commissioned by prosecutors, found investigators may have drawn the wrong conclusions from photos of charring and burn patterns and that the fire could have been an accident.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered Graf's conviction set aside Wednesday.
The
original investigation determined charring was deepest near the shed
entrance and on the doors. Investigators then pointed to "alligator"
charring and other patterns to suggest a quick fire started by an
accelerant like lighter fluid.
Experts
now say those patterns could have been caused by a condition known as
"flashover," when a fire escalates to a point where the whole room is in
flames.
Source: Houston Chronicle, March 27, 2013
