Shirley Kinge - Perjury, misleading forensics, police misconduct
Kinge, Shirley; arson; NRE: perjury/false accusation, false/misleading forensic evidence, police officer misconduct, misconduct that is not withholding evidence
[859:323]; Court of Claims 12/13/07; civil suit
[Convictions had been reversed, due to police misconduct. ]
[December 1989 quadruple homicide. All victims shot, and then the house was burned down. A description was circulated of the person seen using credit cards stolen from the house. Several calls came in identifying Shirley Kinge as fitting that description. David Harding, a New York State Police investigator, claimed he'd matched Kinge's fingerprints to latent fingerprints on a gas can left at the scene. Later, during an employment interview with the CIA, Harding admitted that he'd fabricated fingerprint evidence and committed perjury during a homicide investigation. Other members of the New York State Police had fabricated evidence in other investigations as well. ]
from NRE synopsis (by Maurice Possley):
"On December 23, 1989, the bodies of 39-year-old Warren Harris, his 41-year-old wife, Flores, and their [11- and 15-year-old children] were found murdered in their home in the Town of Dryden, near Ithaca..."
"The victims were tied up, their heads covered with pillowcases and each was shot in the back of the head. They were doused with gasoline and set on fire in an apparent attempt to destroy evidence.
"In January 1990, police were tipped by an informant that the killer was 33-year-old Michael Kinge. On February 7, police used a battering ram to enter an apartment in Dryden where Kinge was staying. A shoot-out ensued and Kinge was killed.
"His 54-year-old mother, Shirley Kinge, who lived in an apartment next door to the Harris family, was arrested. She was charged with helping her son burn down the house after the murders and for using credit cards stolen from the Harris's.
"Kinge admitted to using the credit cards, but claimed to have nothing to do with the murder or arson.
"At Kinge's trial in Tompkins County...New York State Police Trooper David Harding testified that he had found Kinge's fingerprints on a gasoline can located in the Harris home.
"In November 1990, a jury convicted Kinge of burglary, arson, hindering prosecution, criminal possession of stolen property, and forgery, and she was sentenced to 18-to-44 years in prison.
"In 1992, the U.S. Department of Justice began investigating claims that New York State police troopers, including Harding, had falsified fingerprint evidence.
"Based on the disclosure, lawyers for Kinge filed a motion to vacate her convictions. Kinge was granted a new trial and released on bond in August 1992. The prosecution dismissed all charges except for the forgery charges. Kinge pled guilty to misdemeanor forgery in November 1992.
"In December 1992, Harding pled guilty to perjury and admitted planting evidence in Kinge's and other cases. He was sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison.
"In December, after evidence showed that State Police Lt. Craig Harvey had taken a print from one pane of glass in one burglary and planted it on a pane of glass in another burglary, the Broome County [DA] dismissed the burglary conviction of William LaBolt Jr. involving the planted fingerprint.
"In 1995, Mark Prentice was acquitted at retrial on charges of assault and robbery in Tompkins County...after Harding admitted he had planted Prentice's fingerprints in a house and a shed of a man who was beaten and robbed in Enfield..."
"In 2009, Kinge was awarded $286,312 in compensation by the State of New York. Kinge died in 2015 at the age of 80."
[All emphases added unless otherwise noted.]
