A small mercy: No Criminal Charges in Conn. Christmas Fatal Fire
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN Associated Press
NEW HAVEN, Conn. June 8, 2012 (AP)
Criminal charges will not be filed in a Christmas morning fire that killed three girls and their grandparents, a prosecutor said Friday.
The fire killed 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah Badger, 9-year-old Lily Badger and grandparents Lomer and Pauline Johnson. Officials say it was started by embers in a bag of discarded fireplace ashes.
Stamford State's Attorney David Cohen said Friday that some precautions were taken and that while in hindsight they were insufficient, they didn't rise to the level of criminal negligence.
"This is not a decision made easily or lightly," Cohen wrote in a report. "In a tragedy of this magnitude, it is understandable that both the people affected by it personally and the public at large need to find that someone is responsible, that it is not just a senseless accident. However, my determination must be based solely on whether there is sufficient evidence to hold someone criminally responsible."
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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/criminal-charges-conn-christmas-fatal-fire-16525023
