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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Arson |
Sentence: |
"60 days in a youth detention facility, 1 year in a school for youth fire starters & $625,256.62 restitution" |
Years Imprisoned: |
1.1 |
Year Crime: |
2007 |
Year Convicted: |
2008 |
Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Pennsylvania |
County or Region of Crime: |
Northampton |
City of Crime: |
Stockertown |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Zachary R. Handley was 14 when he was wrongly convicted in January 2008 of committing two arson fires in Stockertown, Pennsylvania in November 2007. The first fire was in a dumpster for a pizza parlor was on November 7, 2007, and the second fire on November 27, 2007 that resulted in the destruction of a multi-family townhouse, was started by the igniting of a couch on the building's porch. A witness, Karla Dewey, identified Handley as the person she saw on the porch immediately prior to the fire and that he ran away. Officer Joseph J. Straka, of the Stockertown Police Department questioned Handley at the police station on December 19, 2007, and he told Handley that if he admitted setting the fires he could go home, otherwise he would be in detention on Christmas. After being questioned for almost two hours Handley admitted setting the fires and signed a statement. Handley was immediately placed in juvenile detention. Handley's juvenile trial was held on January 14, 2008, during which Handley testified adamantly that he didn't set the fires and that he falsely admitted to doing because Officer Straka told him if he did so he would be home for Christmas. Dewey testified as the prosecution's star witness. Northhampton County Judge Anthony S. Beltrami found Handley guilty of arson and other charges related to both fires. Handley's sentencing hearing was held on February 4, 2008. It was presided over by a different judge, William F. Moran. Judge Moran heard victim statements from those displaced by the residential fire, including Dewey, who said that in 2003 she had been displaced by the destruction of her family's home by a fire. Judge Moran sentenced Handley to the Cornell Abraxas Open Residential Fire-Setter Program for a period of six to twelve months and ordered him to pay restitution of $625,256.62 for damage caused by the fires. Handley began serving his sentence at Cornell Abraxas on February 6, 2008. Handley repeatedly told staff member that he didn't start the fires and that had been coerced by Officer Straka to falsely confess. After a year at Cornell Abraxas Handley was released on February 2, 2009. Handley had been in custody for a year and 6 weeks from the time of his arrest on December 19, 2007. On August 30, 2013 Karla Dewey pled guilty to arson and endangering her daughter by starting a couch on fire in her family home in March 2012. Dewey was sentenced on September 6, 2013 to thirty-six to 120 months in a state correctional facility for the arson conviction, followed by a consecutive period of six to twelve months of imprisonment for her endangering welfare of children conviction. In exchange for her guilty plea another charge of arson at a church that was filmed by a surveillance system was dismissed. Based on the new evidence of Dewey's admissions in pleading guilty to arson Handley filed a motion on May 16, 2014 to vacate his convictions and strike his restitution order. On March 13, 2015 Judge Beltrami vacated Handley's adjudication of delinquency and ordered a new trial (hearing) based on the new evidence that the prosecution's key witness was a "serial arsonist" whose testimony was unreliable, and the evidence that Handley had been coerced into falsely confessing. Judge Beltrami also ordered dismissal of Handley's civil restitution order for $625,541.62. The State had vigorously opposed Handley's motion, but after Judge Beltrami's ruling the prosecution announced it would not reprosecute Handley." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Perjury by the prosecution's key witness and a coerced false confession. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On March 13, 2015 Northampton County Judge Anthony Beltrami vacataed Handley's conviction and ordered a new trial (hearing) based on the new evidence that the prosecution's key witness was a "serial arsonist" whose testimony was unreliable. Judge Beltrami also ordered dismissal of Handley's civil restitution order for $625,541.62." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
14 |
Age When Released: |
15 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"In The Interest of Zachary R. Handley, No. jv-766-2007 (Ct of Common Pleas, Northampton County, PA, Juvenile, 3-13-15) (vacating adjudication of guilt, striking restitution order, and ordering new trial)" |
Information Location 1: |
http://courtopinions.northamptoncounty.org/PDF/0048-JV-766-2007.pdf |
Information Source 2: |
"Wrongly convicted of arson, Stockertown teen trying to move on, By Riley Yates (Staff writer), The Morning Call, April 4, 2015" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-stockertown-teen-falsely-accused-arson-20150404-story.html#page=1 |
Information Source 3: |
"Judge orders new trial for Stockertown arson, By Pamela Lehman (Staff writer), The Morning Call, March 13, 2015" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-stockertown-arson-new-trial-20150313-story.html |
Information Source 4: |
"Judge grants new hearing for Moore Township man convicted of arson as a child, By Tom Shortell (Staff writer), The Express-Times, March 13, 2015" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/northampton-county/index.ssf/2015/03/judge_grants_new_hearing_for_m.html |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org