By Johnny Magdaleno on October 15, 2020
A woman who spent 17 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted following a mobile home fire that killed her 3-year-old son will be financially compensated by the state of Indiana.
Kristine Bunch, who was convicted of murder and arson in 1996, was found on Thursday by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute’s Board of Trustees to be eligible for compensation through the state’s exoneration fund. Jackson County Judge AmyMarie Travis, one of the board members, said there was “clear and convincing evidence” that Bunch had been innocent all along.
Bunch struggled to hold back tears as the decision was announced at a state government building in downtown Indianapolis.
“I won’t ever get my day in court, but I got to hear it from these people here,”she said. “So that closes a chapter and gives me a different outlook on things because I feel like it’s just been a black cloud that I’ve carried around.”
The Indiana Court of Appeals overturned her conviction in 2012 after it came to light that two investigators with the state fire marshal’s office and an analyst with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had fabricated evidence indicating that the 1995 fire at Bunch’s mobile home in Decatur County was the result of arson.
Bunch is one of three people whose applications for compensation have been approved by the state since the Criminal Justice Institute’s board of trustees began handing down decisions in September of this year.
Read more via the IndyStar. >>