Found Guilty without any evidence?

Question

When my cousin was 16 she was living with relatives and was home when their house was gutted by a fire. A week later they found an empty charcoal lighter fluid bottle with 2 of her fingerprints on it, as well as several other smeared finger prints that they could not identify as hers. She denied she was the one who started the fire, and I believe her, but due to being the only one there (was sick in bed,) they are “positive“ she did it even though she nearly burned in her bedroom on the second story. I went to her trial and even read the trials document word for word. All they had was those fingerprints on the bottle, yet they did not even know what flammable liquid was used. What is more is it was a standard plastic one which they found out of the way of where the fire started (she is smart, so why wouldn‘t she have burned it?) plus the area in which they said it started and was spread is a larger area then that bottle alone could have covered. Her relatives were an uncle and his wife she had been living with for a year. Her Uncle was a deputy Sheriff while she had been a Sheriff explorer, which is basically like boy/girl scouts for law enforcement. What is more a few months before the fires they had had an insurance agent asses the value of the property inside, and then about a week and a half before the fire, there had been a different one she had not been home for. It just caused a lot of smoke damage so clothing etc were all sent to cleaners, except a work/school weeks worth of clothing and pillows/sheets (summer.) Not long after they had insurance on their place they had a garage sale and sold most of the valuable stuff, saying they wanted to get newer things since they had all just moved there a year ago. In the trial her relatives had said they lost everything, but my cousin remembers helping them go through things that were just fine, or weren’t even there due to being sold, the week before she was arrested. Also she since she was 16 she was being tried as a juvenile. When they brought her in to “ask” her questions and told her they would just read her, her rights due to having to with everyone who comes in to be talked to. Her relatives had not been her legal guardian yet, and they did not notify her guardian, nor did they bring an attorney into the actual interrogation (“questioning”,) while asking her questions. Before they even had her fingerprints to try and match the ones on the bottle they began accusing her of this and even handcuffed her to chain at her feet. Of course she was found guilty of felony arson with a LARGE restitution that is unlikely to ever be fully paid in her lifetime. She was given 8 years (back in 2001 around 9/11,) and committed to a youth authority. After having been in custody for 1 ½ years (up for juvenile parole in another 1 ½,) she had a talk with her therapist in there who believed in her innocence. Her therapist told her that anyone here is not “innocent,” and unless she “admits” her guilt and jumps through all the hoops they want her to, she will spend her whole 8 years there. So she “admitted” her guilt and after serving over 3 years she was paroled. Now understand my cousin was a good girl, she has had a hard life, but was very positive about her future getting nearly straight A’s and doing after school activities. She is now in her early 20’s and due to her high restitution she will not be able to get her records sealed, nor be released off of parole till 25, even though if she had no restitution she would have been able to be let go due to good behavior. She had been a model inmate, and is now a model parolee. Is there anything she can do to get her named cleared, or get a new trial? She is on a very low-income and there is no one who had enough money to help her with a real attorney. Also she still has almost 3 years of parole left. How did they find her guilty with no real evidence, only circumstantial?

Juveniles are not tried by a jury, and she said she told them she did it only after she was already found guilty and sent to a youth authority (juvenile prison,) so that she could be paroled instead of serving her whole 8 years. By continuing to say she was innocent would have forced her to spend 8 years instead of the 3 she did. I don‘t know about you, but I would have done the same thing as she did. And she wasn’t convicted, she was committed (conviction is for adults, commitment is for juveniles.) She doesn’t want to think it was her family that framed her, and actually refuses to even believe this, but I got all this info from different conversations.

Actually my cousin was being rescued from the second story window. She woke up in bed to her rooms fire detector going off and was unable to go down the hall due to the fire already reaching the second floor. It wasn't even a minute after being saved that fire was pouring out her bedroom window. Also she wasn't the only one "home" her aunt was next door watching a movie with their neighbors.

I keep trying to explain to people that yes she admitted to it, but only after being found guilty and spending a year and a half already locked up (after being found guilty, which actually made it 2 years total of being locked up.) Where she went they will not release her until either she “admits” her “guilt” or she serves all her time. I don’t know about you, but if I was 16 I would want to get out of there as soon as possible. So either she could have continued saying she was innocent, or lied and said she was guilty to get out sooner, 5 years sooner in fact!

Also keep in mind that although her fingerprints were on it, there were more fingerprints then just her, and in a higher quantity. Since they weren’t hers they never tried to determine who’s they were. Also, remember she lived there, they were into camping and BBQ’s, so for her fingerprints to be on something in her house isn’t so surprising! What’s more they do not even know if the bottle that had 2 of her fingerprints on it was even the bottle/liquid used. All they know is that it was a flammable liquid with her fingerprints on it, which is all they had on her, period.

Answer 1

Going to have to go with Tap, Josie, and Gadget here. I do have a problem with her admitting she did commit this crime, but it can be spin doctored. If she never admitted to this would she have been released? Did she feel compelled to say she was guilty due to the pressure of the therapist? There are cases on the book where people who were innocent admitted to being guilty because of fear of not being released and other factors. You say she doesn't have alot of money so unless you can find an attorney who is willing to take her case pro-bono and prove her innocence it will very difficult. What stands out to me here is she was actually in the home in bed when the fire began and she was almost injured. An arsonist doesn't go back to bed. Also interesting there was another fire less than two weeks prior to the one she was arrested for. If everything you shared is the exact story I would certainly bring this case back to court to prove my innocence. But the case would have to be from scratch with new investigators (forensic investigators, fire professionals, etc....)

The link below is to a website where you can post your case and make sure to add you are seeking pro bono representation (pro bono means represent for free.) If you sincerely have a good case an attorney will try to help your cousin.

http://www.criminal-law-lawyer-
-source.com/terms/p.html

Sorry I had to split the link, but it wouldn't post in it's entirety on one line. Do not include the ... dots. It is lawyer-source.com, etc...

Answer 2

this is one of those "one's word against another's." kind of hard to decide who's right. To me (in the guise of the Hardy Boys) the material evidence points to your cousin, but the part where she was sick in bed wouldn't really add up to the material evidence unless she faked sick (im not accusing).

As for them not knowing the flammable substance, that's kinda garbage in my opinion. It's simple chemistry, to figure out the flammable substance.

And as for a legal guardian not being there, that's not how the courts are supposed to work from what i know (im only half way through my U.S. Government class this semester). She should've had a better lawyer too.

So finally, i think your cousin does have a case of being wrongfully accused. but a final question, did your cousin call the fire department once she found out there was a fire? because if she didn't and she was the only on in the area at the time, then i think that's a bit strange.

I appologize if i misread that in any way, if i misunderstand the law's of the country/states and science, and i also appologize for writing this much.

Answer 3

95% of cases in this country are pled out just like this one, more for economic reasons than guilt.

Unfortunately, once you plead guilty you're in a really tough spot to start over. And, and this is the even bigger problem, a good defense attorney to help with that will cost somewhere between $10,000-$50,000 depending on where you live and how much time is involved.

She's screwed, no matter how you cut it. She can't get her record expunged anyway until 5 years after her parole is finished, all she can do is petition the court to lower the restitution amount. That wouldn't be nearly as much in legal bills, and is probably the only real option to her right now.

Answer 4

Sounds like she had a bad Lawyer but she made a mistake when she admitted to doing it while in Juvie that will stick with her for life she could try contacting someone like the innocents project to look into it but I wouldn't count on much help while she might have been framed she was convicted by a jury and then admitted to it thats a serious up hill battle her best bet may be to declare Bankruptcy and but it behind her and move on with her life may not be fair but it is what it is

Answer 5

People don't get convicted based solely upon the testimony of a child. There was more corroborating evidence. Your friend merely told you his version of the story and how he got "railroaded" by the system. His version of reality is different from everyone else's.

Answer 6

I would suggest that she contact an attorney, give the attorney the story you just told us and let the attorney try to petition the court for a hearing to retry the case. It appears that you are trying to blame the Deputy and his wife for the fires...

Answer 7

you said in your LONG detail that she ADMITTED it. And she never explained how her fingerprints were on that bottle