Krissy

 

On June 30, 1995, a fire broke out in the Indiana home of Kristine Bunch that killed her 3-year-old son, Anthony. Shortly after, she was arrested and charged with arson and murder. She would spend the next 17 years fighting to prove her innocence.

“I woke up and my home was on fire. I tried to get into my son’s bedroom and there was fire in the doorway,” said Bunch, who at the time was 22 and pregnant. She ran outside, and broke one of the boys bedroom windows, trying to climb in to save him. Her neighbors pulled her back, as the fire by this time was too strong.

Several days later, while mourning the death of her toddler, she was arrested and charged with murder and arson. An arson investigator from the  U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) testified that  accelerant had been poured in the living room to the front door of the home, and that multiple fires had been set. An independent arson investigator for the defense stated that the fire was accidental but in 1996, Bunch was found guilty and she was ultimately sentenced to 60 years for murder.

Bunch’s family never gave up hope that Kristine’s innocence would be proven. She and her family worked with local attorneys as well as the Northwestern Center on Wrongful Convictions. They subpoenaed ATF files on the original investigation, and were given previously undisclosed documents showing that — contrary to the trial testimony of William Kinard, the ATF analyst — no heavy petroleum distillate had been found anywhere in the trailer.  Kerosene had been found only in the living room, where there was an innocent explanation for its presence: the family had used a kerosene heater in the living room during winter months, and when filling it sometimes spilled kerosene on the floor. The critical sample in Tony's bedroom was completely negative. Because Kinard's trial testimony that a liquid accelerant had been found in both the bedroom and living room left an inescapable impression that the fire had been set, the ATF documents were highly exculpatory. Yet they had been withheld from Kristine's trial counsel in violation of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1963 decision in Brady v. Maryland requiring prosecutors to turn over exculpatory materials to defense lawyers prior to trial.

After many petitions and years of work, in 2012 an appeals court reversed her conviction and the Indiana Supreme Court upheld this decision. Kristine, who had earned undergraduate degrees in English and anthropology from Ball State University while in prison, was released on her own recognizance 24 days later: 17 years, one month, and 16 days after her wrongful arrest. She walked out of the Decatur County Jail, where she had been sent to await retrial, and into the arms of her family, who had steadfastly supported her throughout her ordeal. She has been declared eligible for compensation from the State; but no amount of money can  make up for the intangible losses she suffered, like missing her second son Trent grow up. She was six months pregnant when she was convicted and gave birth to Trent months later in prison. He was 16 years old when she was released.

Kristine lives and re-lives the trauma of what happened every day. “I am not free,” she has stated. “I don’t know how to feel free. I was judged because I was viewed as trailer trash. When you are poor, you have no recourse.” She talks about grace, and the need for forgiveness. And  she has worked hard to create meaning out of what she has been through. Since her return she started a not-for-profit to help exonerees called "Justis 4 Justus”; she also works for Interrogating Justice, a non-profit think tank centered on ethical justice reform. 

 

Hand sewn art quilt; @60 x 64 inches

 

NFS