I told you to watch the case of Adam Gray. The same flawed and overhauled technology used in forensic arson detection that resulted in Cameron Todd Willingham’s death sentence and that bears eerie similarities to Kenneth Richey’s case, moved a federal jury to award Adam Gray $27 million.
Wrongfully convicted, Adam served 24 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He was 14 years old when he was sent to serve life in prison.
“Gray was convicted in connection to a fire that killed 74-year-old Margaret Mesa and 54-year-old Peter McGuinness. He was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated arson, but was exonerated in 2017 after a series of events led prosecutors to conclude that his confession had been coerced, and that physical evidence from the scene did not link him to the fire.”
Reviews of old arson cases show that many conclusions drawn back then, are simply wrong. The most important mistakes involve:
- puddle configurations
- pour patterns
- burn trailers and
- V-shaped burning marks
At the Willingham trial, V-shaped burn marks were interpreted as THE sole indicator of the place where the fire started (e.g. point of origin). Now we know that V-shaped burn marks occur repeatedly during flashover and do not exclusively tell us where the fire started.
Flashover happens when the radiant heat of the flames changes a fire in a room to a room on fire. Read it twice because there is a difference. Flashover can happen within minutes and without a liquid accelerant. As forensic arson detection evolved we now know that ordinary pieces of furniture can contain flammable materials. An example is upholstery.
To learn more bout Adam Gray and his case, please check out the National Registry of Exonerations.