The ATF's war on gun owners: 27 years for Arson man almost certainly didn't commit

[dburkhead]

Burn Patterns by Dave Mann - The Texas Observer

Key quotes:

For nearly three years, Severns has been in federal prison. Convicted of intentionally starting the fire in his gun shop, he has 25 more years on his sentence. Severns has maintained his innocence all along. As in many arson cases, he was convicted almost exclusively by the testimony of fire investigators who relied on assumptions that some of the leading arson experts in the country now say are false. In fact, new evidence and an Observer investigation reveal that Severns remains in federal prison in Beaumont for a crime he likely didn’t commit.

In building the arson case:

There wasn’t much to go on. No witnesses saw him set the fire. There were no traces of gasoline or other accelerants used to start the blaze. And there was little motive for Severns to burn down his own business and its inventory. Prosecutors would later claim he did it for the insurance money. That seems odd. Severns’ family wasn’t struggling financially; his wife earned a six-figure salary. Moreover, five months before the fire, Severns had reduced his insurance policy limit to far less than the shop was worth. If he’d done it for the insurance, he would have lost money on the deal.

Multiple points of origin?

Two of the leading arson experts in the country believe the fire at Lone Star Guns was accidental. They say it had a single point of origin, sparked by a frayed electric cord found at the scene, and was spread by a case of aerosol cans sitting nearby. The cans were filled with highly flammable gun cleaner. When aerosol cans explode, they can act like blowtorches, spewing flaming liquid all over. These experts say the ATF agents, using sloppy methods, mistook an aerosol-can explosion for a three-point-of-origin fire.

The prosecution had help:

Their two star witnesses were the lead ATF investigator and a prominent arson expert who works closely with the ATF and frequently testifies for prosecutors.

Innocent mistake on the ATF's part?

But new video evidence has surfaced that contradicts the key testimony that convicted Severns and shows the fire was likely accidental. In 2007, someone inside the ATF leaked one of the agency’s training videos to Lentini. In the video, shot in 1994, ATF agents intentionally ignite aerosol cans to see how they’ll react in a fire. When the cans explode, they can clearly be seen bouncing around the room, tossing flaming liquid and starting fires several feet away—just as Hurst and Lentini contend.

And:

ATF investigators in Severns’ case knew about the video during his 2006 trial; in fact, the supervising ATF agent on the case helped run the aerosol-can experiment. The ATF failed to inform Severns’ defense team. [Emphasis added]

Your tax dollars at work.