PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia man serving a life sentence without parole for nearly four decades had his conviction vacated Monday.
Harold Staten was convicted in 1986 on arson and 2nd-degree murder charges for a fire two years earlier that killed one man, identified as Charles Harris, and injured three others.
According to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, a rowhome along North Percy Street caught fire around 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 30, 1984. Those inside jumped from the second-story window to escape.
At the time of the investigation, a lieutenant with the on-scene Fire Marshal told investigators the fire had been intentionally set in the vestibule by an “open flame applied to an accelerant.”
A chemical analysis the following day detected no signs of an accelerant in their collected samples.
Several witnesses were interviewed and no arrests were made until Staten’s in March 1986. He was arrested after a 17-year-old witness – who previously said she never saw Staten the night of the fire – changed her story and said she saw Staten at the door of the house that burst into flames.
He was convicted in October after a two-day bench trial where the Fire Marshal lieutenant testified the fire was “deliberately set using an accelerant,” despite what the analysis showed. The lab test was not brought to trial.
Staten was then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A few years later, at a post-conviction hearing in 1988, the key witness’s roommate testified the 17-year-old was under the influence the night of the fire. The roommate, as well as Staten’s trial investigator, noted that the witness admitted to lying about Staten’s role in the fire that night after officers started taking her out to lunch.
In 2020, a Post Conviction Relief Act petition was filed by the state’s Innocence Project. Nearly three years later, a forensic expert concluded that the Fire Marshal’s original claims are not supported under current fire investigation standards, which are based on a "modern understanding of fire dynamics and the scientific method," and that the cause should be considered “undetermined.”
“We are pleased that the Court of Common Pleas vacated Mr. Staten’s conviction and granted our motion to withdraw all charges against him,” Conviction Integrity Unit Assistant Supervisor ADA Carrie Wood said.