Judge tosses ex-Indiana trooper's lawsuit over murder trials
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed against prosecutors by a former Indiana State Police trooper who was convicted twice but later acquitted of killing his wife and two young children.
Judge Tanya Walton Pratt sided with the prosecutors, state police investigators and forensic experts sued by David Camm, who was seeking $30 million on allegations of malicious prosecution and conspiracy to violate his constitutional rights.
Camm was acquitted in 2013 in his third murder trial in the 2000 shooting deaths of his 35-year-old wife, Kim Camm, and their children, 7-year-old Brad and 5-year-old Jill in the garage of the family's home in the Floyd County community of Georgetown, about 15 miles west of Louisville, Kentucky. The slayings occurred about four months after Camm had left the state police.
Two earlier convictions were overturned on appeal. Camm spent 13 years in prison while maintaining his innocence for the killings, which his defense attorneys blamed on another man who was convicted on murder charges in 2005.
Camm attorney Garry Adams said he was disappointed with the judge's ruling and would ask a federal appeals court to review it.
"We understand that it was a very difficult case and we're already working on the appeal," said Adams, who declined to discuss details of the ruling.
Pratt wrote in her decision dated Monday that Camm hasn't provided any evidence of wrongdoing by the police investigators or prosecutors who handled his trials.
"The defendants could not have conspired to maliciously prosecute Camm in this case because they had probable cause to investigate and prosecute him," Pratt wrote.
Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, whose office is representing the prosecutors and investigators, said Camm was properly charged in the case.
"I hope the dismissal of this lawsuit helps assure our brave officers that both state and federal laws protect them whenever they are discharging their duties in good faith," Hill said in a statement.
Camm received a $450,000 settlement in 2016 from Floyd County over the actions of county employees in the case. Camm initially sought more than $5 million from the county, and the county's attorney said its insurance carriers recommended the settlement.
Camm's attorneys presented testimony during his trials from several men who said they were playing pickup basketball games with him at a church gymnasium around the time of the shootings.
Charles Boney is serving a 225-year prison sentence after he was convicted of the Camm family murders in 2005. Boney, whose sweatshirt and DNA were found at the scene of the slayings, testified that he visited Camm's home and sold him the gun that was used. He testified he was outside when the shootings occurred and that Camm also tried to shoot him but the gun misfired.