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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAn attorney who led the prosecution against a former Indiana State trooper acquitted of killing his wife and two children says a requested ethics investigation was a tactic to get him off the case.
Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson took the stand Monday during a disciplinary hearing, the News and Tribune reports.
The Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission filed a complaint in March accusing Henderson of professional misconduct, saying he violated several rules by trying to secure a book deal about David Camm's case while it was being appealed and lying about it.
The commission's complaint says Henderson started negotiations with a literary agency to write a book about the case before Camm's second trial. Camm's attorneys asked for a special prosecutor for his third trial after they heard about the potential book deal in 2009, according to the complaint.
About a year later, Camm's attorneys asked officials to investigate Henderson, the complaint says. Camm was acquitted in 2013, with a special prosecutor on the case.
Disciplinary proceedings could lead to Henderson being sanctioned, suspended or permanently disbarred, if the attorney acting as the presiding hearing officer affirms the allegations.
"I'm confident there was nothing outside of the boundaries of ethics," Henderson said. "I look forward to the next couple of days and then the hearing officer will make his decision."
During the hearing, Henderson said he asked the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council's ethics committee if he had an ethical requirement to remove himself from the case. The committee said there was no conflict. He was the chairman of the committee, but said he wasn't part of those deliberations.
An attorney for the Supreme Court's Disciplinary Commission also argued Henderson violated the Indiana Code of Professional Conduct by using county money for representation in the ethical investigation. Henderson's attorney, Donald Lundberg, said it was appropriate to spend county money because the ethical investigation was tied to Camm's case.
Proceedings were set to continue Tuesday at the Indiana Supreme Court.
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