Ed James - The Rest of The Story

[huntertrw]

Some of you may recall the tragic death of Forums member Ed James (ejames) which resulted from a fire in his Missouri home in 2017, and that a relative was subsequently arraigned on felony charges of first-degree arson and first-degree murder. I was always curious as to whether the relative was ever convicted, but was unable to find any information until today when I had time to do some deep digging.

According to the Daily American Republic newspaper in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, the charges against the relative, Brett Wade Payne, age 29, were dismissed in January of 2018. Here is a link to the Search Results page of the newspaper where links to relevant articles may be found.

A sad ending, indeed.

 

[ashdigger]

Those are all behind a paywall.

As a fire investigator, without knowing this case in particular, most cases are dismissed because of lazy investigators, lazy prosecutors or weak judges.

A true tragedy.

 

[huntertrw]

ashdigger:

Sorry about the paywall. What follows if the full text of the most recent story listed in that link:

Murder, arson charges against PB man dismissed​

Friday, January 19, 2018
MICHELLE FRIEDRICH ~ Associate Editor

A Butler County judge dismissed the charges earlier this month against a Poplar Bluff, Mo., man accused of murdering his stepgrandfather whose unresponsive body was pulled from their burning home in June.

Brett Wade Payne, 29, appeared on Dec. 4 before Associate Circuit Judge John Bloodworth for a preliminary hearing on the Class A felonies of first-degree murder and first-degree arson.

During the December hearing, the state presented testimony from four witnesses, including officers with the Butler County Sheriff's Department and Della Moore, an investigator with the State Fire Marshal's Office.

The witnesses testified regarding a fire, which occurred during the early morning hours of June 4 at the 150 Mozart Lane residence Payne shared with his grandmother, Freeda James, and her husband, Edward James.

Firefighters pulled Edward James out of a basement bedroom where he had been sleeping when multiple fires allegedly were set on all three levels of his home.

The 66-year-old died later at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center.

According to earlier reports, an autopsy showed Edward James died of complications resulting from the fires, likely due to carbon monoxide and smoke.

Fire officials found fires in Payne's upstairs bedroom, the office area and kitchen on the main floor and in the basement.

Based on her investigation, Moore ruled each was incendiary and had been set separately. An ignition source reportedly was not found.

Payne's attorney, Danny Moore, sought to strike the fire investigator's testimony as she had "no training" and her experience and education did not "meet the standard" of being an expert witness.

Butler County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Bill Gresham argued Della Moore was qualified to testify and asked to submit a brief in support of his position and bring in other fire investigators who worked the case to testify.

Danny Moore also could submit a response brief.

At that time, Bloodworth reset the case for 1 p.m. Monday for further evidence and submission.

Gresham said a court clerk gave him a copy of a docket entry last week, which said Bloodworth had dismissed the case against Payne.

"The docket entry that the judge made (said) he did find probable cause to believe a felony had been committed, but there was insufficient evidence that Brett Payne had committed the felony," Gresham said. " ... We're reviewing the case to decide how to proceed."

During the hearing, Della Moore said, Payne, after having been told of his rights, reported he was in bed asleep when the smoke in his room woke him up.

Payne, she said, further reported after being awakened by the fire, he went downstairs and got his grandmother out of the house.

Due to the fire, Payne reported he couldn't get down the stairs to Edward James in the basement.

During the interview, Della Moore said, Payne reported his room had been "all smoky, and he couldn't see. I asked if he could feel the heat on his bed because the mattress had burned."

Payne, she said, further told investigators the fire was not on his bed. "It was on his desk," which was located about two to three feet from the bed, she said.

Della Moore said Payne also reported he had played basketball the night before, and his grandmother had picked him up and brought him home, where he started drinking vodka.

According to Butler County Investigator Brandon Lowe's probable-cause statement, Payne reported he had passed out from being intoxicated.

Payne's grandmother also was called to testify during the hearing; however, she invoked her Fifth Amendment rights not to testify.

Lowe's probable-cause statement says Freeda James was interviewed the day of the fire, and she told him twice there were only three people in the home at the time of the fire.

"Freeda stated that she did not start the fire," Lowe wrote. "(She) told me that she knew in her heart Payne had set the fires.

"When I asked her why (she) stated because when Payne would get 'drunk,' he was not himself and did things to hurt other people."

 

[ashdigger]

A sad case gets worse when incompetence enters the room.

In order to determine origin and cause you have to eliminate all potential ignition sources.

Then the ignition source left has to be capable of igniting the first fuel.

An example I often use is a match isn’t capable of igniting a 4x4 but change the fuel geometry of the 4x4 by reducing it to shavings then the match is capable.

As far a multiple sets. The room or rooms have to be looked at in total. How did the fire move. Fire burns up and out. Did the fire go up to the ceiling and turn (truncate) and light drapes.

Well, then you have one fire with dropdown.

Also, did the room of origin transition to flashover (a fire in a room to a room on fire) were windows open or fail?

Sounds more like an inexperienced investigator made crucial mistakes that were then attempted to be corrected by different investigators.

This mistake is on an inexperienced prosecutor for not properly vetting his investigators.

An inexperienced fire investigator is fine for a cooking fire, but never a fatal.

Also, the prosecutor should be terminated for overcharging the case.

First degree murder is a high bar. Plenty of lesser versions that still entail time and have a lesser burden.

And unfortunately Fredas statement appears to not be vetted and allowed to stand.

Everything must be tested. Everything. Or bias enters the picture and that never ends well.

 

[tbradsim1]

Sonof a bitch killed a very good man., hope gets his due soon.

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

Ed was a very close friend of mine, I visited him at his home in Poplar Bluff home on multiple occasions. He was a hell of a guy and miss him dearly. I had also met his wife’s grandson on multiple occasions, he was a POS. The last time I saw Ed was about two weeks before he passed, I picked up this pipe that he had made for me. It’s one of my all time favorite pipes.

 

[tbradsim1]

Sonof a bitch killed a very good man., hope gets his due soon.Ed made me several Mullberry pipes, sent him a large log cut in 2 uit UPS, man said that was the most unusual thing he had shipped

 

[captainsousie]

Sonof a bitch killed a very good man., hope gets his due soon.View attachment 272825Ed made me several Mullberry pipes, sent him a large log cut in 2 uit UPS, man said that was the most unusual thing he had shipped

Bastard who killed him deserves whatever nasty torture and death he might face.

 

[georged]

Ed was a very close friend of mine, I visited him at his home in Poplar Bluff home on multiple occasions. He was a hell of a guy and miss him dearly. I had also met his wife’s grandson on multiple occasions, he was a POS.

And I, in turn, can speak to the honor, quality, and integrity of Mr. Rustie, and trust implicitly his ability to reach such conclusions.

Perhaps, with a bit of luck, the murderous, worthless piece of shit will trip face-first into a 2000 degree bonfire this winter under an overpass somewhere, and the alcohol in his lungs and blood will ignite.

(Passing out on a colony of Harvester ants in the outback of Arizona would be even more entertaining, but he's probably still in the Midwest.)

 

[huntertrw]

RustiePylesCPG:

That is a simply beautiful pipe! Is its stem really molasses-colored? It looks so to me in the image.

Smoke it in Mr. James' honor.

 

[georged]

And I, in turn, can speak to the honor, quality, and integrity of Mr. Rustie, and trust implicitly his ability to reach such conclusions.

Perhaps, with a bit of luck, the murderous, worthless piece of shit will trip face-first into a 2000 degree bonfire this winter under an overpass somewhere, and the alcohol in his lungs and blood will ignite.

(Passing out on a colony of Harvester ants in the outback of Arizona would be even more entertaining, but he's probably still in the Midwest.)

PS ---

For anyone who hasn't been in the AZ outback, so imagines a creature that's friendly and benign when they hear the term "harvester" ant, be assured the name was chosen by someone who was having a good day.

"Ground dwelling killer bees" would have been more accurate, and not an exaggeration.

(My secretary's husband-to-be was killed by a swarm in his front yard one night in 1986)

 

[ashdigger]

I was able to read the four articles. The following comments are based on those articles and 18 years (approximately 3,000 fire scenes) of experience.

Full disclosure. I work for both prosecution teams and defense teams. I know the system.

In this instance an unprepared fire investigator ran into a prepared defense attorney. One of the articles details the cross exam of the investigator. If the article is correct, the fire investigator was not properly prepared.

However, neither was the prosecutor or judge. The defense attorney asked a metric ton of unrelated questions, but since nobody knew, they just added blood to the churning water.

The fire investigator testified she had taken a 40 hour course. I’ve taken several of those, and unfortunately there is a market for anything. After my first 40 hour course where I was able to add some letters behind my name, I barely knew where the shovel belonged in my truck.

It breaks my heart and sickens me.

It reads like shortcuts and assumptions were at play.

The investigator found a lighter but couldn’t say if it was used. The investigator only opined “set with human hand”

Should have been introduced heat source was utilized.

Anyway. This is a compounded tragedy.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I joined the forum to discuss cleaning up vulcanite with Ed. He kindly described various techniques and I enjoyed talking with him about old Grabows and Linkmans. I found out about his demise sometime after the fact and it physically sickened me to learn that some little bastard could do that to such a kind person.

 

[peteguy]

Nice insights Ash, thank you. I have also thought of Ed often, he treated me well and I learned a ton from him.

 

[mingc]

The fact that the wife pled the 5th muddies the water considerably. She may have wanted to protect the grandson without perjuring herself but that's not an appropriate use of the 5th as I understand it.

 

[georged]

The fact that the wife pled the 5th muddies the water considerably. She may have wanted to protect the grandson without perjuring herself but that's not an appropriate use of the 5th as I understand it.

He probably threatened her, and she knew he wasn't kidding.

 

[mingc]

He probably threatened her, and she knew he wasn't kidding.

People are infinitely complicated creatures. Who knows what she was protecting and for what reasons.

 

[jpberg]

People are infinitely complicated creatures. Who knows what she was protecting and for what reasons.

They were both protecting the guy. He was their grandson, and he lived with them.
He was a messed up human being.

 

[bullet08]

Sad story. The judge should have open up a bottle of his stashed bourbon, and had few shots with the grandson. That give some idea as to if that grandson is a homicidal bastard. And might get that judge removed from the bench permanently.

 

[Briar Lee]

A law school hypothetical from over forty years ago.

A shot is heard from inside a locked room.

The police gain entry and there are three people in the room.

One is dead from a gunshot to his head. It could have been self inflicted.

There are no fingerprints or any evidence to connect the gun to any of the three.

The other two people plead the fifth.

There is no case.

Now, suppose our friend here lit the fire that killed him?

He had a lot of lighters. The man loved pipes.

His wife has plead the fifth.

His stepson says he’s innocent and was passed out asleep.

This is why I never was a judge.

This is a correct legal result.

The stepson is the most likely culprit, of course.

But either the wife, or the man himself, cannot be excluded as the culprit.

And unless somebody talks this case is sleeping.

The wife and stepson have not been found not guilty.

New evidence would allow this case to be reopened.

We also were taught about the death of Merriweather Lewis in the same lecture. Similar case.

Death of Meriwether Lewis

www.oregonhistoryproject.org