INDIANAPOLIS — A former Indiana state trooper charged with killing his wife and two children in 2000 will have a new prosecutor when he faces his third murder trial in the case.
The Indiana Supreme Court has decided not to hear the state's appeal of a lower court ruling that ordered Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson replaced because of a deal he had to write a book about the case. Only Justice Brent Dickson voted to hear the case.
The 4-1 ruling Tuesday lets stand a November ruling by the Indiana Court of Appeals, which found Henderson had a conflict of interest because of the book deal and had "made himself an issue" in the case. That ruling overturned a previous one by Special Judge Jonathan Dartt, who said Henderson removed any conflict of interest by canceling the book deal.
Attorney Stacy Uliana, who has represented David Camm for about a decade, said Wednesday that Camm's lawyers had been expecting the ruling to go in their favor because the Court of Appeals opinion was "solid."
Camm has spent most of the last 12 years in prison on charges he fatally shot Kimberly Camm and their children — 5-year-old Jill and 7-year-old Bradley — at the family's home near Georgetown in 2000, about four months after he resigned from the state police. Juries have twice convicted him on murder charges that were reversed on appeal.
Henderson prosecuted the second trial, but Camm asked that he be removed from the third because of the book deal.
Court documents said Henderson backed out of the deal after Camm's second conviction was overturned in 2009, recognizing that he might be removed as prosecutor if the book came out before the third trial was completed. However, he told his agent in an email that he remained committed to writing the book.
The Court of Appeals concluded that the "prosecutor's literary contract created an irreversible, actual conflict of interest with his duty to the people of the state of Indiana."
Henderson had no immediate comment Wednesday.
Attorney General Greg Zoeller said his office would work with a special prosecutor to "seek justice for the victims."
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