Pat:

You have to acknowledge that it would be a very difficult thing to admit being responsible for wrongly depriving a man of 27 years. Denial is the easier course.

This guy has self-weeded by retiring. Science advances one funeral (or retirement) at at time.

In defense of the fire investigators, they were backed up by the chemist, who thought he saw gasoline (though they had made up their minds before the lab results were in). The chemist also ran a "flame spread test," in which he ignited a sample of carpet with a Bunsen burner, and reported that the carpet self extinguished when he removed the burner. The carpet stayed lit when he poured gasoline on it, "proving" that there must have been an accelerant.

The chemist is deceased.

John Lentini, CFI, D-ABC
Fire Investigation Consultant
Florida Keys
[www.firescientist.com]