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Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Indiana Decisions - More on status of Camm v. State

As reported in this ILB entry last Friday, quoting from the Louisville Courier-Journal: "The Indiana Supreme Court has refused to review a lower court's decision that overturned the murder convictions of former state trooper David Camm." More today from the LCJ:

Former state trooper David Camm will be returned to the Floyd County jail this week in preparation for a hearing next Tuesday on whether he should be released.

The Indiana Supreme Court last week declined to consider a lower court's ruling that overturned Camm's convictions. It is now up to Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson to determine if he will refile the charges against Camm.

Camm has been serving a 195-year sentence at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City for the September 2000 shooting deaths of his wife, Kimberly, 35, and their two children — 7-year-old Bradley and 5-year-old Jill — at their home in Georgetown.

Yesterday morning, Camm's lawyers filed a motion asking for his immediate release, saying he should not be held because there are no charges against him. They said they also plan to file a motion for a bail hearing in the event the charges are refiled.

After a meeting with Floyd County Circuit Court Judge J. Terrence Cody and defense lawyer Mike McDaniel, Henderson said he probably will announce his decision on Friday or Monday. * * *

McDaniel said he and Katharine Liell, the Bloomington lawyer who handled Camm's appeal, will file the motion for the bail hearing. They hope Cody will consider it at next Tuesday's hearing if Henderson refiles the murder charges.

McDaniel said he also expects to seek a change of venue if charges are filed, perhaps to a city as far away as Evansville or Lawrenceburg — outside the Floyd County media market. That would allow for a jury that hasn't been subjected to much publicity about the case.

Mostly, he said he hopes that Henderson will not refile the charges because the case against Camm is weak, depending heavily on evidence about the cause of blood stains that can be interpreted in different ways.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 9, 2004 09:00 AM
Posted to Indiana Decisions