COLUMBUS, Ohio – A death row inmate’s theory that a mysterious “man in red” could have started the arson fire that killed his 3-year-old son is “an extraordinary stretch of the imagination,” the state parole board ruled Wednesday in unanimously rejecting his plea for mercy.
Michael Webb doesn’t dispute the 1990 blaze was arson, but he denies starting it and says investigators using now-discredited methods came to the wrong conclusion about where in the house the flames broke out. He says the correct determination points to someone else as the culprit.
Investigators say Webb set the fire to kill his family, collect the insurance and start a new life with his mistress.
The Webb case is one in a series of cases around the U.S. that represents a new legal frontier: Defense attorneys are using advances in the science of fire investigation to challenge arson convictions, in much the same way they are employing DNA to clear those in prison for murder and rape.
The board called Webb’s theory of an alternate suspect who could have entered the house undetected “an extraordinary stretch of the imagination.”
“Given the overwhelming evidence of guilt, there is no manifest injustice in this case that would warrant the grant
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