INDIANAPOLIS (AP): A woman who spent 17 years in prison for a fire that killed her 3-year-old son will be compensated by Indiana for a wrongful conviction.
Kristine Bunch was declared eligible Thursday by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute’s Board of Trustees. The wrongly convicted are eligible for $50,000 for every year in prison, under state law.
The Indiana Court of Appeals overturned Bunch’s murder conviction in 2012 after it was discovered arson evidence from the 1995 Decatur County fire had been fabricated by two investigators with the state fire marshal’s office and an analyst with the ATF, as well as the revelation that key documents had been withheld from the defense before her trial.