DETROIT – A critical hearing that could determine the fate of a man convicted in a Detroit firefighter’s death continues Friday with testimony from a key defense expert who claims the original fire investigation was flawed.
Mario Willis is serving a 30-year prison sentence for allegedly arranging a 2008 fire that killed Detroit firefighter Walter Harris.
The defense’s expert witness, Marc Fennell, is expected to challenge the conclusions of the original investigation when the court resumes Friday (Dec. 12) morning.
Fennell, a certified fire investigator from Grand Rapids, has already prepared a 36-page analysis criticizing the Detroit Fire Department’s investigation and court testimony.
His review supports claims that the fatal fire may have been accidental rather than intentionally set.
The hearing, now in its fourth day, has already revealed significant developments.
On Thursday, the original fire investigator, Rance Dixon, acknowledged that he never interviewed a key witness, Darian Dove, who later admitted to starting the fire. Dixon testified that he didn’t learn of Dove’s involvement until after Willis’s trial.
“You have to see the evidence to evaluate it,” Dixon said Thursday when questioned about potential new evidence. “That would be the only fair thing to do.”
Dove, who worked as a handyman for Willis, has provided conflicting accounts over the years.
In a 2014 affidavit, he stated the fire started accidentally while he was using gasoline to light a small warming fire in the vacant house.
He also declared that “Mario Willis had nothing to do with the fire.”
The current hearing may be Willis’s final chance at freedom.
His case has already gone through appeals and review by the conviction integrity unit.
The judge will need to determine whether this new evidence and expert testimony are sufficient to warrant a new trial.