Camm and family speak out at sentencing

By LISA HURT KOZAROVICH
newsroom@news-tribune.net

March 29, 2006 07:07 pm

— BOONVILLE — Before being sentenced Tuesday for the murders of his wife and children, former Indiana state trooper David Camm spoke publicly for the first time in almost four years.
“I am innocent. I did not murder my family. I did not molest my little girl. The reality is Charles Boney murdered my family because he is a perverted monster,” Camm said, breaking down in tears before the court.
Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson wasn’t moved, saying Camm’s “crocodile tears” were nothing more than a show for the media and to convince his family to continue their overwhelming support of his innocence.
“It’s the same thing we’ve always seen from him,” Henderson said.
The 41-year-old was sentenced to life without parole for the Sept. 28, 2000, shooting deaths of his wife, Kim, and their children, 5-year-old Jill and 7-year-old Brad. The family was murdered in the garage of their Georgetown home.
During the eight-week-long trial, prosecutors theorized Camm molested his daughter and then conspired with Boney to kill the family to keep the secret. The defense believes that Boney — whose DNA was found at the murder scene but not matched to him until last year — attacked the family, possibly due to his violent foot fetish.
Camm said he couldn’t understand how evidence of Boney’s criminal history — including assaulting unknown women and taking their shoes — could be excluded from the trial.
“This jury should have heard the whole story of Charles Boney,” he said.
His defense attorneys believe that is one key reason they will win an appeal. Katharine “Kitty” Liell said the defense will file a court motion within 30 days. If the Indiana Supreme Court refuses to hear the case, Liell said she hopes to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court on the basis that Camm’s Sixth Amendment right to present his defense was violated.
“Justice has been victimized by politics. It’s easier for the people and the politicians to believe that I am involved than to believe the truth,” Camm said. “I will never stop trying to find out why Charles Boney murdered my family and who was involved. This is not over.”
Henderson isn’t worried about an appeal. After two juries convicted Camm and the county spent an unprecedented amount for him to receive the best defense — about $1 million for the two trials — he doesn’t believe a higher court will even hear the case, much less overturn it.
The final costs aren’t available yet, but in the end the county is expected to pay out $1.5 million to $2 million for the two trials.
The court also heard from both David’s and Kim’s sisters during Tuesday’s emotional sentencing.
Julie Hogue, Camm’s sister, criticized prosecutors and investigators for not being objective.
“You can make that face at me Mr. Henderson, you can raise your eyebrow at me, but that’s the truth,” she said.
Saying her family has learned that innocent until proven guilty is only a myth, Hogue then outlined how the state failed to prove its case. For example, there is no evidence, no testimony, no witnesses to indicate Camm left the gym the night of the murders, she said.
“What happened in this courtroom and what I’m afraid happens in many courtrooms, is that the prosecutor was perceived as the good guy wearing the white hat of honesty. On the other hand, the defendant and his advocates were not to be trusted.”
Debbie Karem, Kim’s younger sister, was too ill to attend, but she was heard when Henderson read her statement aloud. Her purpose, she said, was to let Camm know that “now he is nothing but a distant memory.”
The sentencing took place in Warrick County, where the trial was moved due to excessive pretrial publicity. It was the second trial for Camm, whose 2002 conviction for the murders was overturned by the Indiana Court of Appeals in 2004.
That reversal was based on the higher court’s opinion that Camm did not receive a fair trial initially because the jury was prejudiced by the several women who testified to having affairs or flirtations with him during his 11-year marriage. That testimony was not allowed at his recent trial.
The most damaging evidence that was introduced at both trials was a collection of eight blood stains found on the T-shirt Camm was wearing the night of the murders. The blood was that of his daughter.
State experts testified the blood was high-velocity impact spatter, which would prove Camm was within a few feet of his daughter when she was shot in the head.
Defense experts testified the stains were caused by transfer, possibly by Camm brushing up against his daughter’s hair. Although Camm said he didn’t recall touching his daughter because he thought she was dead, he reached over her to pull his son, who he thought was still breathing, out of the family’s Ford Bronco.
The defense’s main evidence was the testimony of 10 basketball players, and a bystander, who said they were playing pickup basketball with Camm at the time of the murders.
Sam Lockhart, Camm’s maternal uncle, testified that during the one game that Camm sat out — when police believe the murders occurred — he played in his place and knew that his nephew didn’t leave the gym during that time.
Later, jurors said they believed Lockhart was “mistaken” in his recollection.
Camm is in a correctional facility in Plainfield waiting to hear where he will be imprisoned. He requested Tuesday to be placed in Wabash Valley Correctional Institute, in Carlisle, to be closer to his family and attorneys and pursue a college education. Previously, he was in Michigan City.

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