Wasnt Arson News Today

Being investigated as a hate crime. in fact one of the most recent ones was a predominantly white church in tallahassee. that was a lightning strike. there are dozens of churches being struck. anybody committing arson should be prosecuted and punished for it. anybody with racist motivation should be investigated for using that motivation to go out and burn down churches. but for media to have all of this the ones that you were mentioning all of these black churches getting burned down is hyperbo...

Being investigated as a hate crime. in fact one of the most recent ones was a predominantly white church in tallahassee. that was a lightning strike. there are dozens of churches being struck. anybody committing arson should be prosecuted and punished for it. anybody with racist motivation should be investigated for using that motivation to go out and burn down churches. but for media to have all of this the ones that you were mentioning all of these black churches getting burned down is hyperbo...

Was guilty? >> after i had seen all of the evidence, it was overwhelming that he was guilty. >> reporter: david martin was one of willinghams court appointed defense lawyers at his 1992 trial. so keeping them honest, what exactly did martin do to defend willingham? the prosecution had two arson investigators on the stand to prove that willingham was guilty. did you have an expert testify? >> we couldnt find one who said that it wasnt arson. >> reporter: couldnt find one. but since the trial, nin...

Sense so jones confronted her. >> we dont know what happened, terry, but there is no way anyone else started this fire. you started the fire. im not an arsonist. shes like im not an arsonist, im a firefighter. >> reporter: barton began to buckle under pressure. what she was about to reveal to agent jones during a taped reenactment. >> terry, youve given previous statements -- >> reporter: would shock her small mountain community. >> were those statements correct statements as far as your count a...

Nearly two decades preventing fires in colorados national forests. the married mother of two raised her daughters here. this was bartons backyard. she was praised for trying to put the fire out and jones was closing in on her because her previous statements didnt make sense so jones confronted her. >> we dont know what happened, terry, but there is no way anyone else started this fire. you started the fire. im not an arsonist. shes like im not an arsonist, im a firefighter. >> reporter: barton b...

On a fellow forest worker, one of their own, terry barton spent nearly two decades preventing fires in colorados national forests. the married mother of two raised her daughters here. this was bartons backyard. she was praised for trying to put the fire out and jones was closing in on her because her previous statements didnt make sense so jones confronted her. >> we dont know what happened, terry, but there is no way anyone else started this fire. you started the fire. im not an arsonist. shes ...

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Evidence just in case arson is the cause. colorado fire officials know all too well how important protecting that crime scene is. the investigation into the giant hayman wildfire in denver in 2002 initially thought to be caused by careless campers and became a hunt for an arsonist. how investigators came to that conclusion is a fascinating piece of detective work. heres thelma gutierrez. >> theres flames leaping 30, 40 feet into the air. >> reporter: this was a fast-moving giant of a fire. >> th...

In the campfire and thats the end of that. >> well, i mean i still had the matches, and they didnt blow away. >> you know, i was pretty confident that if there had been paper there, you know, we would have found it. >> reporter: jones and her mentor senior special agent paul steensland sent this ash from the campfire to a federal lab to screen for trace evidence of paper. >> of course, they found not a shred of paper material. we dont believe there was a love letter in this case, and her motivat...

>> what about the irs itself? any response? >> not to blacks case citing federal law that prohibits them about speaking out about individual taxpayers cases, however, we got a spokesperson from the irs that said audits in general, ill read, the irs stresses audits are based on information contained on the tax return and the underlying tax law. nothing else. john, i believe that is somewhat of a defense from the irs about this story but again, its the inspector general from the treasury departmen...