Published: May 22, 2008 07:59 pm            

Camm's appeal now in Ind. Supreme Court's hands

Justices will look at fairness of second trial

INDIANAPOLIS — After millions of dollars spent by taxpayers in Floyd County and two separate trials and convictions for the murders of his wife and two children, the fate of David Camm again is in question.

Camm, a former Indiana State Police trooper, is serving a life sentence without the chance of parole for the slaying of his wife Kimberly, 35, and their children, Bradley, 7, and Jill, 5, at their Georgetown home in 2000.

Now, Indiana Supreme Court justices are deliberating on whether to uphold the conviction, overturn it and have another trial or let Camm go free.

On Thursday morning, Camm’s attorney, Stacy Uliana, told the five justices in Indianapolis that the trial contained many errors, such as allowing the prosecutor to say Camm may have molested his daughter and by not telling the jury about evidence of other sexual-related crimes allegedly committed by Charles Boney.

Boney was convicted of the slayings just months before Camm’s second conviction. During Camm’s trial, the state said Camm offered Boney money to help with the crime.

Uliana said the prosecutor failed to provide proof to back up that claim.

“Not only did they present absolutely no evidence that Boney gave Camm a gun, they presented no evidence that the two even knew one another,” she told the court.

Uliana said Boney acted alone or possibly with the help of his girlfriend, whose DNA was found on his shirt mixed with blood from two of the victims. She said Boney’s sexual obsession with white women and their legs and feet were evident at the scene, since Kim’s pants were pulled down and her shoes removed.

Deputy Attorney General Stephen Creason, who argued the case Thursday for the state, cited a law that prevents bringing up someone’s prior bad acts in court.

Uliana also said the state should not have suggested in their opening and closing remarks during the trial that Camm was responsible for molesting Jill, when they did not have proof.

Creason said the prosecution only brought that up because the defense suggested in its closing statements that Boney molested Jill.

“If the (defense) is allowed to suggest properly that Boney must have done the molestation without any evidence that he is a child molester or that he had any connection to the family — other than the fact he was present there (at the crime scene) — then the state is certainly allowed to reach an opposite conclusion in its rebuttal to that point saying it is also likely that Camm did it,” Creason told the justices.

“We never ever said Boney molested Jill Camm,” Uliana answered back, saying they just said she was molested within hours of her murder and her killer may have done it at the scene. “We gave our version because we had to. We did not want this evidence in. We tried to keep it out, but we failed.”

In closing, Uliana asked the justices if they had ever seen so much evidence of innocence, with 11 witnesses in Camm’s favor saying he was with them playing basketball at the time of the murders.

“It’s all about could of,” she said. “He could of snuck out. He could of molested his daughter. He could have been at the scene with Charles Boney. ... When you let speculation trump evidence, you know innocent people are going to be summarily sacrificed.”

The case is with the court until it makes a decision, which could take more than a year, according to attorneys from both sides. The court could decide to order yet another trial, causing the sides to relive that day back in 2000 again.

“(Having another trial) is going to be dreadful, but I think it’s worse having David Camm sitting in solitary where he is for killing his family when he didn’t do it,” said Nelson Lockhart, Camm’s uncle. “Can you imagine how it would feel to be the person wrongly accused of killing your family? Not even able to mourn them?”

Sam Lockhart, Camm’s uncle, believes the ruling will come out in Camm’s favor.

“I think the justices can see through their (the state’s) spin,” he said. “I think that their questioning showed that they understood that this was a miscarriage of justice.”

Keith Henderson, who prosecuted Camm the second time, said he believes the conviction will be upheld.

“I believe that not only did he have a fair trial, it was more than fair,” Henderson said after the hearing, referring to evidence not allowed in, such as Camm’s alleged affairs. “Once this is over, it’s time for it to be over.”

For now, the two sides can just wait for the justices to hand down their decision. If that isn’t in Camm’s favor, Nelson said the fight for justice won’t be over.

“We won’t give up,” Nelson said.

Kim Camm’s family refused to comment to the press after the oral arguments.



CHARLES BONEY’S SENTENCE

• Earlier this year, the Indiana Court of Appeals denied Charles Boney’s appeal. Boney was convicted in Floyd County Circuit Court in 2006 for his role in the 2000 shooting deaths of David Camm’s wife and two children. Boney is serving a 225-year sentence.



What’s next

• David Camm’s murder conviction appeal is under consideration by the Indiana Supreme Court. That decision could take more than a year, according the defense and prosecution. The court could uphold his conviction, overturn it and have another trial or let Camm go free.



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