A motion for a new trial is challenging one of South Boston's most notorious cases: the 2008 house fire that killed two young sisters and sent their mother's acquaintance to prison for murder. Nicole Chuminski was convicted in 2010 of setting the blaze that killed 14-year-old Acia Johnson and 3-year-old Sophia Johnson, but the conviction is now being challenged.
A Deadly Fire On West Sixth Street
The fire broke out on April 6, 2008, at a row house on West Sixth Street rented by Anna Reisopoulos, according to The Boston Globe. Acia and Sophia Johnson were found dead in an upstairs closet. Police alleged that Chuminski, then 25, had retaliated hours earlier after Reisopoulos stole a wallet from a Chuminski relative at a wedding in Weymouth, and a jury convicted her in 2010 of setting the fire that killed the two girls.
Boston Fire Department Lieutenant Frederick J. Hollien concluded the fire began at the first step of a small staircase in the home's vestibule, leading to the interior door, the Globe reports. He later testified at trial that someone had splashed “an ignitable liquid in that vestibule and lit the bottom step with an open flame,” ruling out other possible causes before reaching that conclusion.
Accelerant Testing Produced Mixed Results
State Police Sergeant Stephen J. Cunningham used a 50-pound black Labrador retriever named Yahtzee to search the scene for accelerants, and the dog alerted on two chunks of wood found on the sidewalk and a spot on a vestibule window seat. The state crime lab's arson and explosive unit then tested the debris and several pieces of Chuminski's clothing for commonly used accelerants like gasoline — and, per the Globe, those results came back negative. Additional testing for acetone, however, produced positive results from the two wood pieces and several articles of Chuminski's clothing.
That acetone finding is now at the center of the defense's challenge. The newly filed motion for a new trial, brought by the New England Innocence Project, argues that the industry standard known as ASTM E1618-01 cautions that “the mere presence of oxygenated solvents such as alcohols or acetone does not necessarily indicate that a foreign ignitable liquid is present,” and calls for an acetone peak at least ten times larger than other chromatogram readings before treating it as meaningful. The motion further states that the amounts of acetone and ethanol found on the debris and clothing were “miniscule,” and notes that an internal state lab study separately found trace acetone in an unadulterated Timberland shoe sample and trace ethanol in an unadulterated pair of pants.
Wiring Allegedly Overlooked
Lawyers for the New England Innocence Project say investigators never examined exposed electrical wiring above the vestibule ceiling that could have caused the fire by accident. The motion also argues that the fire-investigation method known as negative corpus — reaching an arson conclusion by ruling out accidental causes rather than affirmatively proving one — has since been repudiated by the scientific community, and cites research finding that investigators incorrectly identify a fire's general area of origin at least 25 percent of the time once a room becomes fully involved in flames.
Anna Reisopoulos testified that she and Raymond Jr. were inside the home when she heard banging and yelling at the front door before the fire.
Appeals Already Rejected Once
Chuminski's case has already been through one round of appellate review. The Massachusetts Appeals Court affirmed her convictions on January 3, 2014, and the state's highest court denied further review weeks later.
At trial, several witnesses linked Chuminski to the fire through statements made after the blaze. Four women who encountered Chuminski in jail testified that she made incriminating statements, with Tammy Lewis testifying that Chuminski said she had been outside yelling and trying to get Reisopoulos to leave the house, and Angelina Dickerson testifying that Chuminski said she was sorry for what she did and did not mean to hurt the children. Chuminski's lawyers are now seeking documents about any benefits those jailhouse witnesses may have received after trial.
The sentencing record itself contains a discrepancy. The Globe reported that a judge sentenced Chuminski to two consecutive 15-year sentences at MCI-Framingham, while the new-trial motion states she was convicted of two counts of arson and second-degree murder and sentenced to consecutive life sentences.
Broader Questions About Fire Science
The motion situates Chuminski's case within a wider pattern, stating there have been 94 arson-case exonerations nationwide, including nine in Massachusetts, as fire investigation has shifted toward more rigorous scientific standards. Under Massachusetts Rule of Criminal Procedure 30, a request for post-conviction relief like this one typically goes back to the judge who presided over the original trial, since that judge's familiarity with the case can make the process more efficient, according to the Massachusetts Rule of Criminal Procedure 30.
The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office declined to comment, citing the live proceedings over the new-trial motion.
While imprisoned, Chuminski has earned her GED, worked toward a cosmetology license, and trained dogs to work with disabled people, per the Globe. She has said she hopes the new-trial motion will bring out the truth.
