Published: October 04, 2009 09:05 pm      

LOCKHART: Camm family asks readers to consider facts

For nine years my family and I have sought justice for my nephew David Camm, his wife, Kim, and his children, Brad and Jill.

David has twice been convicted of his family’s murder, and twice a higher court has overturned the verdict.

The county recently received $2 million from the state to possibly be used to fund a third trial, on top of the nearly $3 million already spent on this case. Is it right to spend money the county doesn’t have to get it wrong again, especially since the man whose prints and DNA were found at the murder scene is already in jail for the crime?

Many people have asked me why I continue the fight; despite the emotional and financial damage our family has suffered. It’s really quite simple. I know, absolutely know, that David Camm is innocent of the slaughter of his family and that another person is responsible.

Would you not do the same if you knew a grave injustice had been committed against your loved ones?

Some people, including at least one local prosecutor, have called me a liar. I’m not asking you to believe me, but rather the facts of this very emotional case. I think people who take a close look will be shocked at what they find.

Over the years, two prosecutors at two trials have put forth at least six different theories as to how, when and why David supposedly committed the murders.

According to former Floyd County Prosecutor Stan Faith — whose office bungled the first investigation when they failed to match DNA evidence at the scene to convicted felon Charles Boney — the murders were committed around 7:19 p.m., after 9:15 p.m., sometime during the night.

Faith claimed David alone committed the murders for the purpose of allowing him to have affairs and to cover the molestation of his daughter. There was no evidence of such.

When prosecutor Keith Henderson took over, the theory changed. At first he said David killed the family around 7:19 p.m. with his own handgun to cover an alleged molestation of his daughter, for which there was not a shred of evidence. (The most recent conviction was overturned primarily because prosecutors accused David of molestation without any evidence to that effect.)

Later — when the DNA evidence was linked to Boney, who admitted to being at the home when the murders were committed — the story changed again.

Now the prosecutors said the murders were committed sometime during the basketball games with a gun provided by Boney, and this time the motive was life insurance proceeds and trying to hide molestation. A third scenario later emerged, in which David and Boney committed the murders together using Boney’s gun.

The linchpin of this case was a “crime scene re-constructionist” and “blood stain expert” who claimed David had eight tiny, high-velocity bloodstains, which are reportedly found if someone is within a few feet of a murder, on his shirt. Rob Stites, who was found to have lied under oath and who, together with his mentor, was paid nearly $300,000 by the county, provided this “evidence.”

In the process of solving this high-profile crime, real evidence and testimony was ignored.

Instead of believing 11 people who were playing basketball with David at the time of the murders, including myself and two brothers of a New Albany Police officer, the prosecutors chose to believe Boney, a felon who had been convicted of stalking and attacking women. None of the men who were playing ball that night have changed their story, nor do they have any reason to lie.

Maybe even more appalling is the fact that both prosecutors ignored a major piece of evidence found at the scene — a sweatshirt that contained unknown DNA evidence. That alone proved someone else had been at the scene. When pressured to run that DNA through a database of known felons, it came back as a match to Boney.

Why was that evidence not run through the database until nearly five years after the murders were committed?

The first prosecutor, Faith, said he told lead detective Sean Clemons to run the DNA but Clemons denied that he was instructed to do so. Faith later reported to defense attorney Mike McDaniel that the DNA was run but there were no hits. If the DNA had been run, Boney, whose DNA was in the database in 1997, would have been identified in 2001.

It’s obvious the assertions of both Faith and Clemons can’t be correct.

Also ignoring the DNA on the sweatshirt, which had been found at the murder scene and did not belong to anyone in the family, was the new “fresh eyes” team of Henderson’s office. I personally pleaded with two members of that team to have the unknown DNA run as well as looking at other evidence.

Over three months later the DNA was run and only when forced by David’s new defense attorney. It was only then that Boney was identified.

Henderson refused to run the DNA when he took over, and only did so when forced by David’s new defense attorney. It was only then that Boney was identified.

Boney is an 11-time convicted violent felon who attacked women and who was released from a 20-year sentence three months prior to the murders. His last conviction was for the home invasion and the kidnapping of three women at gunpoint whom he threatened to kill.

It is a sad fact that Boney would still be free today if the first David Camm conviction was not overturned and if Henderson had not been forced to run the DNA.

When Boney was finally identified and failed a polygraph, the “fresh eyes” team discounted the failed test, claiming that Boney’s story of him donating his sweatshirt to the Salvation Army checked out. It was only after his palm print was matched to one that had been found on the side of the Camm family vehicle, in which the family was killed in their garage, that investigators were forced to arrest him.

During more than 34 hours of interviews, investigators provided critical parts of Boney’s statement to him as they repeatedly demanded he tell them how he met David. They refused to entertain the possibility the two didn’t know one another. Boney denied he ever knew or met David until he was threatened with the death penalty if he didn’t implicate David.

That death threat worked. Boney then claimed he was also a victim of David’s and he weaved his story to try and fit known facts as the investigators guided him through his ever-changing, self-serving story.

When Boney finally gave prosecutors a story that incriminated David, a story that didn’t match the forensic evidence or the known facts, they re-arrested David.

Assisting the “fresh eyes” team were jail and prison inmates who provided false stories that didn’t match the actual forensic evidence. One prison informant, incarcerated for 25 years for dealing meth near a school, was released after his false testimony against David.

Prosecutors ignored the fact that among the blood found on Boney’s sweatshirt, was blood matching Boney’s girlfriend, along with blood spilled by Kim as she tried to defend herself and her children.

They also ignored an odd, but important fact. During the violent attack, Kim’s shoes had been removed, the top of her feet battered and bruised, and her shoes placed on top of the family’s vehicle. Considering that Boney admitted to having a foot-fetish, and said that was why he had broken into a woman’s home and attacked other women, it seems investigators would have given that strange fact more weight. They also ignored the fact that Boney lived within a few blocks of where Kim shopped, and that Boney had a history of stalking women.

More plausible than the ever-changing theories as to how and why David allegedly killed his family is the likelihood that Boney saw Kim, stalked her, followed her home, attacked and murdered her, along with the witnesses to the crime, her children.

The claims I make may seem outrageous, but unfortunately they are true. I will support these allegations with additional facts in future submissions to The Tribune.

Much has occurred over the last nine years. The lives of three innocent and loving people were snuffed out and the lives of many more have been ruined. I cannot stop because David Camm is innocent and Kim, Brad, and Jill deserve true justice.

We’ve accomplished much toward proving David’s innocence, but we know there are people that still have information critical to this case, information that could bring the truth out. I implore those with information to contact me at helpfordavid@yahoo.com.