"Why, defense lawyer David Fryman asked a jury on Thursday, did police
wait 14 years to charge Daniel Dougherty with setting the 1985 fire
that killed his two young sons? Only hours after the Oxford Circle blaze, investigators had
interviewed the witnesses and determined that the cause was arson. The
case, supposedly, Fryman said, was murder - the horrendous killing of
two little boys, in their bed, by their own father. Then why did they wait? They waited, Fryman said, because they had doubt. The 14-year delay in lodging charges occurred because
authorities had a reasonable doubt - the same doubt that jurors should
have, and for which they should find Dougherty not guilty, Fryman said. On Thursday, the arc of a contentious and emotional Common Pleas
Court retrial neared its conclusion, as defense and prosecution argued
their interpretations of the evidence in the 3-decade-old fire. After hearing closing arguments, the jury deliberated for 1 hour and 45 minutes. It resumes discussion on Friday..........Assistant District Attorney Jude Conroy, who earlier conducted a
mocking and sometimes shouting cross-examination of an expert defense
witness, opened his argument with an apology to the jury. "If there's anything I did during the course of my presentation that offended you, I apologize," he said. Conroy soon was shouting again, attacking the testimony, motivation
and character of nationally known consultant John Lentini, head of
Scientific Fire Analysis LLC in Florida. He testified that extensive
damage made it impossible to know where or how the fire began. The cause
should have been classified "undetermined," he said. Conroy noted that Lentini testified he brought no bias to
investigations. But the fire expert blanched when confronted with his
testimony from a different trial, where he said he always at first
assumed the cause of a fire to be accidental. "This is disgraceful," Conroy thundered, "this is lying, this is perjurious!" He called Lentini a "modern-day charlatan," an "alchemist" who was
"fumbling like Elmer Fudd" and who would "whore himself and say
anything" in exchange for a consultant's fee. The prosecution relied on Quinn's 1985 findings, and on fresh support
of those determinations by consultant and former fire marshal Thomas
Schneiders."
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Bulletin: Daniel Dougherty: Philadelphia: On-going arson/murder trial: His defence lawyer asks the jury why did police wait 14 years to charge Daniel Dougherty with setting the 1985 fire that killed his two young sons? His answer? "They waited," (David) Fryman said, because they had doubt."..."Assistant District Attorney Jude Conroy, who earlier conducted a mocking and sometimes shouting cross-examination of an expert defense witness, opened his argument with an apology to the jury. "If there's anything I did during the course of my presentation that offended you, I apologize," he said. Conroy soon was shouting again, attacking the testimony, motivation and character of nationally known consultant John Lentini, head of Scientific Fire Analysis LLC in Florida. He testified that extensive damage made it impossible to know where or how the fire began. The cause should have been classified "undetermined," he said. Conroy noted that Lentini testified he brought no bias to investigations. But the fire expert blanched when confronted with his testimony from a different trial, where he said he always at first assumed the cause of a fire to be accidental. "This is disgraceful," Conroy thundered, "this is lying, this is perjurious!" He called Lentini a "modern-day charlatan," an "alchemist" who was "fumbling like Elmer Fudd" and who would "whore himself and say anything" in exchange for a consultant's fee."
