Man who claimed innocence and won reversal in fatal arson case pleads guilty at retrial
A man who maintained his innocence for decades in the arson deaths of two stepchildren and finally won a reversal of his Texas conviction last year has taken a plea as the jury was deliberating its verdict in his retrial.
Ed Graf admitted that he set the backyard fire in 1986 and pleaded guilty to two murder counts, the Associated Press reports.
The deal calls for him to be sentenced to 60 years, making him eligible to apply immediately for parole because of the 28 years he already served on his prior conviction.
He was originally found guilty based in part on testimony by fire investigators that has since been discredited.
“The most important thing is that we get the science right,” said Jeff Blackburn, who serves as chief counsel for the Innocence Project of Texas. “Not everybody who got convicted on the basis of junk science is innocent. Not everybody who got convicted on the basis of junk science deserves an acquittal or a pardon, and this is proof of that.”
