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DISCLAIMER: Please note that every case is different and these verdicts and settlements, while accurate, do not represent what we may obtain for you in your case.

The Innocent “Arsonist”

One must never assume that because the police have made an arrest, they have the right man. Many times, the police act on information that is untrue without taking the necessary and reasonable steps to verify the information. Here is a case in point.

“Chuck,” a 26 year-old laborer, was arrested after a late-night interrogation lasting almost three hours for the arson of a church early the previous day. In making the arrest, the police and ATF agents conducting the investigation based it solely upon information supplied by an unmarried couple who lived next door to him. He maintained his innocence throughout the interrogation and was denied access to an attorney. Although he had no adult criminal record he was held in jail without bail.

Within the first 12 hours of representing him, Mr. Stelly was able through the interviews of several third parties to build a time line that accounted for virtually every hour of Chuck’s whereabouts in the 48 hours encompassing the estimated time of the fire and his arrest. Mr. Stelly also discovered the female of the couple who gave police the information had been Chuck’s former girlfriend, and at the time, she was on probation for a conviction just 7 months earlier for giving a false statement to the police in this same department.

The male, her current boyfriend, was a convicted drug user and dealer, had a felony conviction for assaulting a police officer, and had, just 14 months before, filed a trespassing charge against Chuck that was thrown out when a witness refused to perjure herself at that trial. Although these facts established a motive to give false information against Chuck by the informants, and other very important information that tended to prove his innocence was known by or available to the people conducting the investigation, it was disregarded.

After sharing the information he gathered with the investigators, they renewed their investigation and obtained a confession from the female that she had made the story up because she “hated” Chuck. She was charged with giving a false police report.

After serving 5 days in jail and suffering the humiliation and embarrassment of huge media coverage identifying him as the “arsonist,” Chuck was released from jail and the charges against him dropped.

Later, Mr. Stelly filed a civil suit in Chuck’s behalf against the officers involved and the department for failing to take reasonable action before making the illegal arrest. That suit was settled prior to trial.

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