This Is Good

From Firehouse.com: A judge has thrown out the arson conviction of a Friendship man after his attorney presented evidence that the fire at Joseph Awe's Harrisville bar likely was caused by an electrical malfunction and that investigators had used flawed methodology in determining that it was arson.
Marquette County Circuit Judge Richard O. Wright granted a new trial Thursday to Awe, 42, who is nearing the end of his three-year prison sentence at Oregon Correctional Center.
Wright's decision hinged on investigators' use of a now-discredited method known as "negative corpus" -- the conclusion that a fire must have been intentionally set after ruling out accidental causes. The National Fire Protection Association guide was updated after Awe's 2007 conviction to say such a method should never be used.
The judge noted that the state never determined the exact cause of the fire and "there was no direct evidence of the defendant's guilt."
Irene Awe, reached by phone at her home in Friendship, burst into tears after being notified of the decision clearing her husband. Awe likely will be released Monday, said attorney Eric Haag, who is filling in for Awe's attorney, who is out of the country.
"That's the best news ever!" Irene Awe said. "We've been fighting for so long. At least now we can prove that he didn't do anything. He said, 'You have no idea how hard it is, especially knowing you're innocent.' I'm sure he's going to be ecstatic."
 http://www.firehouse.com/news/10898774/arson-conviction-tossed-by-wis-judge-evidence-flawed
I wrote about this in 2011: http://lasvegasbadger.blogspot.com/2011/08/man-headed-to-trial-for-arson-but-will.html
The vast majority of evidence against the bar owner was found by the insurance company, who had a stake in which to pay the claim or not pay the claim.
It's a shame an innocent man was in jail for 3 years.