Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Consumer Law Blogs -> ThePopTort

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Consumer Law

: ThePopTort

The Insurance Industry and a Bogus Arson Conviction in Texas

By Amanda

ADVERTISEMENTS

There is perhaps nothing more tragic in our judicial system today is when an innocent person is convicted of a crime they did not commit. To date, the Innocence Project has exonerated 235 people using DNA evidence to overturn their convictions.

Despite what the popular television series CSI might lead you to believe, not every crime can be solved through DNA evidence. Take for example investigations into possible arson. By its nature fire consumes most of its evidence leaving fire investigation ?more art than science.? And most convictions hinge on the testimony of a forensic expert.

Add to the mix insurance companies, which have a financial interest in finding arson (not accidents) because they don't want to pay claims, and you get tragic stories like that of Curtis Severns, portrayed in Friday?s Texas Observer. Severns was convicted in 2006, of burning down his own gun store in Plano Texas. Severns has been serving a 27-year sentence for a crime, according to the paper, ?he likely didn?t commit.?

Photo courtesy of the Texas Observer

Although the prosecution claimed Severns did it for the insurance money, that was doubtful because he did not need it, and a short while before the fire he had reduced his insurance coverage to less than what the shop was worth. Even fire investigator Mike Makela from Severns? own insurance company, which had a financial incentive to find arson (and not pay the claim) determined that the fire was accidental ? caused by a frayed electrical cord and accelerated by combustible spray cans nearby.

But according to the paper, after Makela left the company, ?his boss rewrote his report? to find arson even though Makela never changed his mind. Moreover, ?[i]nvestigators hired by insurance companies for two neighboring businesses that sustained smoke damage said it was arson. That?s not surprising, given that this conclusion saved their clients quite a bit of money.?

As we?ve written many times, the insurance industry?s greed and mismanagement has wreaked havoc in many people?s lives. But what it did to Curtis Severns, leading to this arson conviction and incarceration, is truly monstrous. Let?s hope the courts take another look at this apparent miscarriage of justice.

Full post as published by ThePopTort on April 06, 2009 (boomark / email).