Boney’s motion on juror denied

By CHRIS MORRIS
newsroom@news-tribune.net

April 20, 2006 03:42 pm

— Convicted murderer Charles Boney won’t be getting a new trial in Floyd County any time soon.
On Wednesday, Floyd County Circuit Court Judge J. Terrence Cody denied a motion to correct filed by Boney’s attorney Patrick Renn.
The motion claimed one of the jurors in Boney’s murder trial had his mind made up about Boney’s guilt before the trial started. A racial slur was allegedly used by the juror to describe Boney.
However, Cody ruled against Renn’s request for a new trial, or to conduct a hearing on the matter.
“I am not surprised,” Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson said. “This is just a normal process and these motions are almost always filed.”
Renn said he was not shocked by the ruling, but he was surprised the court denied a hearing.
Renn was made aware of the alleged slur by a “concerned citizen.” The juror was replaced and the remaining jurors said they never heard any kind of racial slur.
“We went back and interviewed all 12 and they all were consistent with their stories,” Henderson said. “There was no mention of alleged remarks. They took this case very serious.”
Boney was convicted in February of the murders of Kim Camm and her children Brad and Jill at their Georgetown home on Sept. 28, 2000, and sentenced to 225 years. The husband and father, David Camm, was also convicted of triple murder in March and is serving a life-without-parole sentence.
Renn said each juror received a 50-page questionnaire during the selection process and many of those questions dealt with race. He said the juror obviously lied on the questionnaire.
“Since Mr. Boney is African-American, many of the questions dealt with race,” Renn said. “We wanted to make sure the jury was not influenced by race.
“The sole issue is did the juror lie on his questionnaire, not if he influenced the jury. And that has not been addressed by the state.”
Renn said the comment could have kept Boney from receiving a fair trial.
Henderson disagrees.
“Mr. Boney received a clean trial,” Henderson said. “He received a fair trial. All the jurors said in the jury room during and after that juror was dismissed that there was no mention of alleged remarks.”
Renn said he will now file an appeal on the murder conviction, and feels confident his client will get a new trial. It could take up to a year for the appeals court to decide whether or not to hear the case.
Henderson is confident that won’t happen.
“He is a convicted killer and in prison where he belongs,” he said.