Shocked by the death of a high-profile resident.
High-profile resident. >> he was well-known. Some
would same famous, some would
say infamous.
Say infamous. >> he was very controversial in
a lot of respects. He had many
enemies.
Enemies. >> two alleged accomplices are
charged with murder. One walks
free. The other gets life.
Free. The other gets life. >> it was like a drain. It was
a nightmare, what it was.
A nightmare, what it was. >> years pass before science
answers the question of how the
victim died and who, or what,
was responsible.
Was responsible. >> it's about getting to the
truth. Our focus was one thing
-- was this actually a crime?
-- Was this actually a crime? >> for decades, coal was king
in west virginia, but when coal
fell on hard times, so did a
lot of communities across the state, among them iaeger, a
once-thriving town now a shadow
of its former self.
Of its former self. >> everybody knows everybody.
Back in my days, we had
back in my days, we had everything, you know, there
that we could have -- stores,
theaters, skating rinks,
churches. It was just a small
town for everybody. Now, it's
all gone.
All gone. >> tens of thousands of coal
miners worked in the county,
and it was a very thriving
community, but it's not that
way any longer.
Way any longer. >> during iaeger's glory days,
and for some time afterward,
one person was known to
virtually everyone in town. His
name was ebb whitley. Locals
simply called him "doc".
Simply called him "doc". >> doc whitley was the only
doctor in town. He owned the
only pharmacy in town, and he
was probably the richest man in
the area. He had a beautiful
home right on the river, right
on the main drag in iaeger. He
was notorious, well-known. Some
would say famous, and he was,
you know, very involved in
democratic politics.
Democratic politics. >> but a devastating fall when
he was in his mid-60s put him
in a wheelchair, and on a March
morning in 2005, that
wheelchair proved to be a
serious liability when doc's
whitley's house went up in
flames.
Flames. >> firefighters arrived. They
saw a flaming couch in the
living room. They doused that
couch with water, and then
immediately proceeded upstairs
to doc whitley's bedroom, where
they found the doctor dead on
the floor.
The floor. >> doc whitley had burns over
90% of his body. Confined to
his wheelchair, the 70-year-old
couldn't escape the fire.
Couldn't escape the fire. >> I seen this blue tarp laying
there, and, you know, there was
tv trays outside and people
looking. Doc deserved better
than a blue tarp and being
carried out where everybody
could see him.
Could see him. >> well, everybody was in
shock. To think his life ended
that way -- it was incredible,
and I know everybody felt
guilty.
Guilty. >> the room doc whitley was
found in had a huge burn hole
in the floor.
In the floor. >> both the upstairs and the
downstairs had undergone
significant fire damage. The
couch downstairs was already on
fire when the firefighters
entered more than 10 minutes
after the fire was called in.
After the fire was called in. >> state fire marshals
suspected the fire had two
points of origin, something not
seen in an accidental fire.
Seen in an accidental fire. They theorized that if the fire
they theorized that if the fire was intentionally set, the
arsonist set the fire to the
upstairs bedroom and then
torched the downstairs couch on
the way out to make sure the
job was done.
Job was done. >> dr. Whitley -- he had no way
to escape, and he couldn't run
out of the house. He couldn't
walk. He had no way out.
Walk. He had no way out. >> the possibility of the fire
being intentionally set had
investigators searching for
accelerants. As part of
standard operating procedure,
samples from the fire were
stored in sealed paint cans.
Stored in sealed paint cans. >> most crime labs use what's
called headspace extraction.
Called headspace extraction. That's a method by which you
that's a method by which you take a small activated carbon
strip and you put that in the
paint can with the evidence and
heat it up for about 16 hours
to about 80 degrees, and the
volatiles that are entrapped
within the fire debris will
evaporate from the debris,
enter the headspace, which is
the gas above the sample.
The gas above the sample. >> they gathered samples at the
scene, and the forensic chemist
at the state police lab said
that one of the samples from
the bedroom floor near the fire
contained toluene, an ignitable,
flammable liquid that's found
in charcoal lighter and other
products.
Products.
>> in a town as small as iaeger, west virginia, locals rarely
tired of gossip about doc
whitley and kathy
lively-hamilton, his long-time
nurse and office manager.
Nurse and office manager. >> kathy lively and doc whitley
fought all the time, but they
also, I think, loved each other
quite deeply.
Quite deeply. >> there was no question of any
romance between doc and his
nurse, but that didn't stop the
sparks from flying often and in
public.
Public. >> we worked together for 25
years, and we both wanted to
feel like we were right, so we
had to argue out who was right
and who was wrong, and then
we'd forget what we was arguing
about and then just go on about
our business.
Our business. >> they were extremely close.
Not romantically involved. They
not romantically involved. They were just close friends.
Were just close friends. >> on the night before doc
whitley died, he and kathy had
yet another fight.
Yet another fight. >> kathy lively said during
that fight something to the
effect of, "oh, I'll kill you,
you s.O.B."
>> that didn't mean nothing,
you know? I've been killing doc
for years, you know? Doc would
fire me. I'd quit. We never
missed a day.
Missed a day. >> from what we understand,
that was actually a fairly
typical thing for them to say
to each other.
To each other. >> but what definitely was not
typical was that doc would end
up dead the next day. Local
investigators suspected the
worst, especially after hearing
a strange story about kathy's
27-year-old son, jason. Right
after news that doc whitley's
house had burned down with him
in it, jason drove to doc's
second house, just a few miles
away, to tell doc's wife what
had happened.
Had happened. >> jason lively went up to the
home on coon branch mountain to
tell her dr. Whitley had died
in a fire. We believe he stole
dr. Whitley's laptop computer
at that time and took it out to
sell it, and he finally did
sell it.
Sell it. >> investigators thought jason
might have stolen the laptop
because doc's wife would never
have known it was gone. And the
fight jason's mother had with
doc the night before he died
presented another possible
motive. Investigators thought
jason might be using doc's
pharmacy to get prescription
drugs illegally. That would
stop if doc went through with
his threat to fire jason's
mother.
Mother. >> the investigators thought,
allegedly, that doc whitley had
taken away kathy lively's
access to his prescription pad,
which meant that she could no
longer use it and that jason
could no longer use it to
obtain illegal narcotics.
Obtain illegal narcotics. >> of course, it couldn't be
said for certain that jason was
using his mother's prescription
pad, but now the investigation
turned to another man, a friend
of jason's named brian salyers.
Of jason's named brian salyers. >> brian salyers come really
straight out of central casting
for kind of the local criminal
element of this area.
Element of this area. >> brian salyers is another
local guy. He told them that he
had picked up tommy owens and
jason lively and dropped them
off outside of the whitley
house sometime on the morning
around 8:00.
Around 8:00. >> this put jason lively and
tommy owens at the scene of the
fire just before it started,
and with that, both men were
charged with doc whitley's
murder. Prosecutors were
convinced they had a solid case
for first-degree murder.
For first-degree murder. >> when you've got state fire
marshals saying, "this was an
incendiary fire, " and you've
got a witness saying, "jason
lively was there that morning"
and his mother having had that
fight and jason having taken
that computer, none of that
added up to a recipe for
success for jason at trial.
Success for jason at trial. >> in an unusual move, jason
lively and tommy owens were
tried separately. Jason lively
went to trial in November of
2006. It didn't go smoothly for
the prosecution. Their key
witness, brian salyers, changed
his story. He said he never
dropped anyone off at doc
whitley's house.
Whitley's house. >> brian, who was put on the
stand, and on the stand,
recanted his testimony and said,
"it's not true. What I told the
police isn't true, and I only
told them that because they
were threatening me."
>> despite this setback, the
state pushed forward. The jury
was told there were two points
of origin for the fire, that
the gold standard of accelerant
analysis -- gas chromatography
mass spectrometry -- found
evidence of an accelerant at
the scene, and that doc whitley
might have seen this coming.
Might have seen this coming. >> they said dr. Whitley
expressed a fear of jason
lively.
Lively. >> jason lively was found
guilty of doc whitley's murder
and got life in prison, with
the possibility for parole in
15 years. Six months later,
jason's alleged accomplice,
tommy owens, also faced a jury,
and in a shock verdict, he was
acquitted, which had a lot of
people wondering how only one
person could be guilty if
prosecutors were convinced two
people set the fatal fire.
People set the fatal fire.
>> sid bell prided himself on being an honest prosecutor, so
when jason lively got a life
sentence for the murder of dr.
Sentence for the murder of dr. Whitley, and tommy owens,
whitley, and tommy owens, jason's alleged accomplice,
walked free, he worried about a
possible miscarriage of
justice.
Justice. >> as a prosecutor, I wanted to
know more about what they refer
to as the science of fire
investigations. I began to
question, "do we really know
what we're talking about? "
>> sid bell's doubts weren't
eased after learning of an
infamous arson conviction that
culminated in 2004.
Culminated in 2004. >> I was concerned about that
todd willingham case in texas.
Todd willingham case in texas. >> cameron todd willingham was
executed in 2004 for killing
his three kids in a fire he was
convicted of setting, but now,
nine forensic scientists
believe the evidence shows it
was not arson.
Was not arson. >> sid bell heard about cameron
todd willingham, who was
executed based on what was
later determined to have been
false scientific assumptions
about the way fires burn.
About the way fires burn. >> was it possible jason lively
was serving life because of
faulty forensic science? Sid
bell sought out craig beyler, a
scientist who determined that
todd willingham was executed
for a deadly arson that many
analysts believe never
happened.
Happened. >> I want to know the truth. I
want to know what really had
happened. I wanted to be
convinced about the cause of
the fire.
The fire. >> beyler re-examined the
evidence used to convict jason
lively.
Lively. >> dr. Beyler could have said,
"I agree. It was a set fire. It
was arson. I agree with it." of
course, he didn't say that. He
said that he believed it was an
electrical fire, an accidental
electrical fire. This is
exculpatory evidence.
Exculpatory evidence. >> but this wasn't nearly
enough to get jason lively out
of jail, even though the man
who prosecutors said was his
conspirator was walking free,
something jason saw as a
potential ticket for his
freedom.
Freedom. >> him being found not guilty
was better for me all the way
around, and they tried every
way in the world to get tommy
to say that I was there, and he
turned it down absolutely and
took the stand and went to
trial, put his life on the
line.
Line. >> beyler believed jason was
innocent, and he pointed to the
hole burned in the floor of doc
whitley's bedroom. Photos
showed the very top of the
floor was burned the least. The
sub-flooring and the joists
below that hardwood surface
sustained most of the damage.
Sustained most of the damage. If an accelerant had been
if an accelerant had been poured on top of the floor, as
prosecutors claim, the major
damage should have been on the
surface of the floor, not below
in the sub-floor and in the
support joists.
Support joists. >> fires burn up, and so, when
you pour ignitable liquid onto
a hardwood floor, you're not
gonna get a hole in the floor
because the fire burns upwards.
Because the fire burns upwards. It's not the liquid that burns.
It's the vapors from the liquid
it's the vapors from the liquid evaporating that burn.
Evaporating that burn. >> this video, unrelated to
this case, helps explain. The
woman pours gas into the car,
but as she waits to light the
fire, the fumes from the gas
gather inside the vehicle, and
that's what burns, or in this
case, explodes, when she sets
the fire.
The fire. >> and so, you can see from
tests that when you pour a
liquid accelerant on the ground,
it doesn't actually burn a hole
into the floor. It's actually
really difficult to get that to
happen.
Happen. >> so, if the fire that killed
doc whitley wasn't arson, where
and how did it start? The
building was old, and photos
showed an electrical wire
running directly through the
burned-away hole in the floor.
Burned-away hole in the floor. The new analysis concluded the
the new analysis concluded the fire started from that faulty
wire below the surface of the
floor and burned upwards into
the bedroom. This created the
hole in the floor. Flaming
embers fell through that hole
and ignited the couch on the
ground floor, creating what
appeared to be a second point
of origin. And in this case,
dr. Beyler ruled out every
other possible cause of the
fire other than an electrical
caused fire in the joist bay.
Caused fire in the joist bay. >> this directly contradicted
the prosecution's theory of the
case, but for now, the state
wouldn't listen to any pleas
about jason lively being not
guilty, and as he endured the
11th year of his sentence, life
behind bars was getting worse
by the da.
By the da. >> the whole time I'm there,
they're all sending me money
and trying to take care of me,
and, you know, and I'm just a
burden. I mean, like, I felt at
times that I was just no good
for nothing. It would just be
better if I was dead.
Better if I was dead. >> in 2017, the west virginia
innocence project took up jason
lively's case, believing he was
>> in 2017, the west virginia innocence project took up jason
lively's case, believing he was
convicted on possibly faulty
forensic arson analysis.
Forensic arson analysis. >> we had a factually innocent
client, if dr. Beyler was
correct, but the law's just not
equipped to handle that.
Equipped to handle that. >> jason's new team had a
surprise ally. Sid bell, the
prosecutor who put jason behind
bars, helped spearhead the
reinvestigation.
Reinvestigation. >> one of my assistants said,
"why did you do this? Why would
you hire an expert that ended
up helping the defense? " I
said, "well, I wanted to know
the truth. I wanted to know
what really happened."
>> the state was not convinced,
and enlisted one of west
virginia's leading fire experts
-- glen jackson, a forensic
chemist -- to review beyler's
report.
Report. >> my expertise is in the area
of mass spectrometry as an
analytical technique.
Analytical technique. >> jackson's analysis also
determined the fire that killed
doc whitley was an accidental
fire, started by faulty
electrical wiring, but
prosecutors and the original
fire investigators wanted to
know why. In the original
investigation, gas
chromatography mass
spectrometry showed the
presence of an accelerant
called toluene at the scene.
Called toluene at the scene. Toluene is found in all sorts
toluene is found in all sorts of products.
Of products. >> for example, paint thinner
is quite pure toluene. When you
buy a new pair of shoes and you
get that new sneaker smell,
that's toluene. And so, if
someone is wearing a brand-new
pair of sneakers and they step
in paint thinner, it's very
difficult to tell the source of
that toluene. Is it from the
original sneaker or is it from
the liquid that's then a
foreign liquid to that sneaker?
Foreign liquid to that sneaker? So, this is the kind of
so, this is the kind of problems that fire debris
analysts face.
Analysts face. >> all substances have unique
chemical signatures. The gas
chromatograph mass spectrometer
identifies chemical signatures
by vaporizing samples and then
comparing the results to a vast
database, a library of chemical
signatures.
Signatures. >> and so, you can go on and
you can look and see what is in
charcoal starter fluid, for
example.
Example. >> the original prosecutors
said gas or lighter fluid
produced the toluene at the
fire scene, but those compounds
should also have shown up in
the analysis, and they didn't.
The analysis, and they didn't. This high peak in the readout
this high peak in the readout showed only toluene.
Showed only toluene. >> gasoline definitely does
contain toluene. It also
contains other aromatic
compounds, and they are always
present in a very similar
profile, and in this particular
case, it's very easy to
categorically exclude gasoline
as a possible ignitable liquid
because all of those other
aromatic compounds are absent.
Aromatic compounds are absent. >> so, where did this nearly
pure toluene in the fire come
from? From the fire itself,
likely through a process called
pyrolysis.
Pyrolysis. >> when organic materials
undergo pyrolysis, which is
like heat damage, they also
liberate a wide variety of
chemicals that weren't present
in the original material.
In the original material. >> during the fire, the burning
of the wooden floor likely
crated toluene through the
perfectly natural process of
pyrolysis. The mistake that
landed jason lively in jail was
that analysts concluded he put
the toluene there, when in fact,
it was created by the fire
itself. This cost jason 14 hard
years in prison, but everyone
agrees it was an honest
mistake.
Mistake. >> I was completely convinced
that these convictions were an
injustice and that he needed to
be freed.
Be freed. >> it's very difficult for
people to admit mistakes, even
if those mistakes are
accidental, and even if they
were hard to avoid at the time.
Were hard to avoid at the time. Science has evolved since 2005,
science has evolved since 2005, and we have more knowledge than
we did then, and out
interpretations are a little
more advanced than they were
then.
Then. >> a man who spent the last 13
years in prison is now living
the rest of his life as a free
man thanks to new evidence
overturning his conviction.
Overturning his conviction. >> in September of 2020, jason
lively, put in prison by faulty
science and freed by sound
science, was finally released,
free to hug his mother, marry
his fiancée, and restart his
life.
Life. >> it felt really. (bleep) yeah,
it felt real. It felt
wonderful. Everybody was there,
all my friends, all my family.
All my friends, all my family. They were all nice, supporting
they were all nice, supporting me.
Me. >> yeah, it was good seeing him
walk around that corner in
street clothes and a new york
yankees hat.
Yankees hat. >> and that first hug and kiss,
it was just, like, him being
born all over again. I got to
hold him, hug him. It was the
best day of my life other than
jason being born.
Jason being born. >> the criminal justice system
is about seeking the truth.
Is about seeking the truth. It's about getting to the
it's about getting to the truth. The science was the
case. The science was our case
completely. And actually, the
reason why things had gone so
wrong in this case was because
people didn't pay enough
attention to the science.
Attention to the science.