Defense Interview
On February 25, 2005 Prosecutor Henderson told defense attorney Katharine Liell about Boney's DNA being matched to that in the sweatshirt. He failed to mention Boney's failed polygraph, just like he failed to mention it to the press three days later.
It was also on February 25th after finding out about Boney's DNA that the defense investigator immediately contacted Detective Gilbert and told him, after doing a quick internet database search on Boney, that he had discovered that Dave Camm's uncle and aunt lived a short distance from the residence of Boney's mother. The defense investigator also told him that Boney's mother, with whom Boney lived in 2000, lived within a short walk to Karem's meats, owned by Kim's sister and brother-in-law. The implication was clear: Boney may have seen Kim at either location and been attracted to her.
(Note: Boney's mother later verified that she often sent Boney to the meat market where the family had been buying meat from Karem's for years.)
Gilbert's response was that he didn't think that Boney had any involvement and that the recent discovery of Boney's DNA didn't impact his strong conviction that Camm was still the only one responsible for the murders, calling the blood spatter evidence against Camm "compelling."
Boney was contacted the next day by the defense investigator and Boney agreed to be interviewed by the defense on Monday, February 28, 2005. The talkative Boney also volunteered the following information during that initial telephone call on February 26th:
- The sweatshirt at the Camm crime scene was "undoubtedly mine" but the first time that Boney found out about it was on February 17, 2005.
- "No physical evidence" put him at the crime scene.
- He got rid of his sweatshirt at the Salvation Army drop box.
- Boney had "no idea" whose unknown female DNA was on the sweatshirt.
- He stated, "My MO is theft" and that he was told by the investigators that nothing was taken from the crime scene; he therefore could not have been responsible.
- He had four sets of people who would verify his whereabouts the day that the Camm family was murdered.
- He had a "hunch" that the person behind his sweatshirt appearing at the scene was a female at the Salvation Army.
Boney also made this comment, "if there is physical evidence at the scene, either I did it or didn't… stick a needle in me and let me die." That's not a strong statement of innocence and on the contrary, he said that it would take more physical evidence to put him at the scene. His comment did, however, reinforce the fact that he certainly knew that he was potentially facing the death penalty.
Boney agreed to be personally interviewed by the defense but wanted it to occur at the New Albany City-County Building which housed the prosecutor's office. He also later demanded that Detective Gilbert be present with him. Gilbert was not only present but Boney also secured an audio tape of the interview for Gilbert. That was a strange request, but when considering that he had not been arrested after so much evidence pointed to him being involved in the crime, it is easy to understand why he had friends in the investigators, whom he called Gary and Wayne, and why he wanted their help when dealing with the defense team.
During Boney's interview with the defense investigator, he continued to lie about a lot of things. Specifically, he claimed the following:
- He never had a shoe fetish.
- He had never hurt anyone.
- He had not had a gun in his possession since his release from prison in June, 2000.
- He had never threatened his wife with a gun.
- He never had a .380 gun in his possession.
- He never represented himself to anyone as a cop other than as a joke.
- When he robbed, at gunpoint, three Indiana University (IU) coeds, the gun he used was pointed downward and was unloaded.
- He had several alibis for September 28, 2000.
- He gave away his prison sweatshirts and underwear to the Salvation Army in approximately mid-August, 2000.
- It was highly unlikely that his sweatshirt, which was found at the murder scene, would contain DNA from a woman he knew.
- He was never at the Camm house.
- He was never in the Georgetown area other than on the highway.
- He was never in the Camm neighborhood with his car.
- He had been honest during his interview.
Boney also told the investigator that during his eight years in prison, "Cause if you check my prison records, I only have three write-ups" such as, "Putting extra food on their (inmates) plate. You know, silly stuff like that." That sounded innocuous enough, but as with other assertions by Boney, one knew that he wasn't being truthful.
In fact, as the interview progressed, Boney began bragging about his stature in prison and he was very proud of his BACKBONE nickname, "I fit the epitome of what a Backbone should have…a person who's not spineless… a person that stands up. He helps people. You know, it's like I'm not a perfect person, and I didn't live a completely honest life in prison either. You know, I smoked weed a couple of times, I made homemade hooch, that was against the rules. We made money the wrong way, you know, we sold drugs and things like that to survive. So I wasn't perfect, you know, I did a lot of stuff. I'll never say oh, I was a great guy. It's just that I never let the people in charge know what I was doing. They seen me as a guy helping everybody, but in along with prison life, you have to survive as well."
The standup guy was selling drugs and didn't let those in control know what he was doing. Boney also bragged about the following:
Boney: We hate child molesters, we hate rapists, we hate sexual predators, and we don't like individuals that do things to the elderly, things like that. So we have a police among our little community.
Dunn: Okay.
Boney: So when we, those people come to prison or whatever, they get dealt with. That's on tape, I'm just admitting it. I was involved in some of that.
Dunn: Like what? Like...
Boney: I won't say specifically.
Dunn: But, but, the prison has their, their own police force in prison.
Boney: In other words we don't want, I mean, you know, I'm a father and if there's an individual that accused of being a child molester and its proven, we know, just doing time is not enough, they got to go through a little bit more...
Boney: So bottom line is, we don't like anyone who would do stuff to kids, and that's part of being Backbone.
One could righteously argue that Boney was more than just a little conflicted. He's not quite the "perfect person" but yet he was part of an internal inmate police force that inflicted additional punishment on, among others, those who harmed children. He, of course, failed to mention that he had physically abused his own one year old son.
Boney also failed to mention that after his transfer from the Indiana State Prison, in 1999, to the newly built Miami Correctional Facility, that he had set up his cellmate by hiding a knife in the cellmate's television and then snitched on him to the correctional officers.
Boney also failed to mention that when other inmates found out about his treachery that several took him to task and made him pay retribution. Boney, the proverbial BACKBONE, didn't stand up at all but merely whimpered when his own internal prison punishment came from other inmates.
Nonetheless, the ebullient Boney, who clearly wanted to control the interview, also said that "one lie ruins all of my credibility…because all I have is my credibility right now." Unfortunately, however, when his credibility was repeatedly destroyed by his repeated lies, the police and prosecution continued to claim that he was telling the truth when his story finally incriminated Camm.
Boney was also observing some other things about the defense investigator when he noted, "you have on some nice shoes". That's not the kind of comment one would expect from someone in Boney's position unless, of course, that someone is fixated on looking at other people's feet and shoes.
It was also at the time of that interview that Boney had already provided palm and fingerprints to the police. Boney knew that there was a distinct possibility, if not probability, that his prints would be matched to any unknown prints at the scene. The man who had to be in charge of the interview, and indeed of the media and who controlled what information he would and wouldn't give to the investigators gambled, however, and the following dialogue ensued:
Boney: And are you aware that there are possibly more than just my DNA and the DNA of an unknown female on the sweatshirt?
Dunn: There's a lot, and yeah, see that is one of the contentions that the defense has had, is that for years this DNA was not ran through any database, CODIS or other databases to try and determine as to whose identity that DNA belonged, ok? And there is other things there. There is a multitude of physical evidence that was found at that crime scene which hasn't been, i.e. or a. either tested, or b. tested against any to see if there is any matches or database. There is certainly fingerprints, there is blood found at the scene that hasn't been identified yet and that's the reason I asked you, and I ask you again, if any of that belongs to you, then that would put you at the scene, would you agree?
Boney: That's, that is correct. If, if something of mine was there at the scene that means that I would have been there.
Dunn: Right.
Boney: And that's why, and that's why I have no problem speaking with you, and that's why I have no problem meeting with you. That's why I have been forthright and honest with the prosecution team.
Dunn: So, and let me ask you this, in the next extension Charles, would be, if you were at the scene, then you would have been the individual committing that crime then?
Boney: That would be pretty obvious.
Four days later, Boney's palm print would be matched to a previously unknown print on the right door jamb of the Bronco. What did that mean according to Boney's own words? That he not only was at the crime scene but that he would have been the individual committing the crime.
(Note: The prosecution later claimed that Boney's comments were speculative and he didn't actually confess. One must ask the simple question of what changed between February 28th and March 4th when he was arrested. Only one thing changed and that was the identification of his left palm print as being on the right side door jamb of the Bronco; the left hand, which was steadying Boney as he leaned in and shot the two children inside the Bronco. The prosecution must therefore have believed that Boney had confessed; they simply let the fingerprint expert do the talking rather than using Boney's videotaped confession.)
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