News and Tribune

Floyd County

October 12, 2007

Briefs filed by Camm's legal team in appeal

Supreme Court could overturn case or order new trial

By SHEA VAN HOY — Lawyers for convicted murdered David Camm on Friday filed a brief in his appeal to the Indiana Supreme court, citing errors in the trial that led to his conviction in 2006.

Camm’s attorneys were set to argue that testimony about his alleged abuse of his 5-year-old daughter, Jill, should not have been allowed, according to The Evening News and Tribune newsgathering partner, WLKY-TV in Louisville.

His legal team also is expected to argue that Camm’s 6th Amendment right to confront a witness was compromised.

Camm, along with co-conspirator Charles Boney, were convicted in the 2000 murder of Camm’s wife Kimberly and their two children at the couple’s Georgetown home.

Boney was convicted of the murders before Camm’s second conviction — his first having been overturned by an appeal’s court — and the judge restricted what could or couldn’t be introduced as evidence into Camm’s trial concerning Boney’s involvement in the crime.

Camm’s first conviction, in 2002, was overturned by the Indiana Court of Appeals because it said testimony of Camm’s alleged extramarital affairs shouldn’t have been allowed. The Indiana Supreme Court agreed, but new evidence led Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson to try Camm again after Boney emerged as a suspect.

Both men were convicted last year and would spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Camm lost a lower-court appeal following the 2006 conviction, but any case where the defendant is sentenced to life without parole is automatically heard by the state Supreme Court. A string of issues following the conviction led to a delay in the brief being filed by Camm’s attorneys.

When Henderson told the jury in the most recent trial that Camm killed his family because his wife discovered he had molested their daughter, he opened the door for a third trial, said Katharine “Kitty” Liell, Camm’s defense attorney, for a previous article.

A third, or even fourth trial, isn’t unheard of in Indiana. In summer of 2006, Indiana resident Christopher Allen was released after his third murder trial ended in a mistrial for him.

Liell, who said previously she had always felt an “eerie connection” between the Camm and Allen case, believes that Camm will also receive a third trial.

“It’s never going to happen,” Henderson said for a previous article. “It was a very, very clean trial. Judge (Robert) Aylsworth was very aware and he took every measure to be cautious.”

If the state Supreme Court upholds the conviction, Liell could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, it’s unlikely the country’s highest court would hear a case that doesn’t deal with issues of national importance or Constitutional issues.



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David Camm’s history in court

• March 2002, David Camm convicted by first jury; appeals conviction

• July 2002, Floyd County Superior Court denies motion for a new trial

• January 2004, Attorney Katharine Liell files next level of appeal, with the Indiana Court of Appeals

• August 2004, Indiana Court of Appeals reverses Camm’s conviction, paving the way for a second trial

• November 2004, Indiana Supreme Court upholds Court of Appeal decision

• November 2004, Floyd County prosecutor announces he will retry Camm

• March 2006, Camm convicted by second jury; appeals conviction

• November 2006, Appeal denied

• November 2006, Next level of appeal filed with the Indiana Supreme Court

• Friday, Camm’s attorneys file briefs detailing their side of the appeal

• What’s next: Attorney General’s Office has 30 days to respond

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