Have police and fire investigators increased their vigilance about maintaining that chain of custody?
JW: It was the firefighters that were heroic in this book. Like Marv Casey from Bakersfield who preserved the fingerprint and actually solved the case. He knew that it was one of 10 guys and couldn’t convince people. It was the firefighters who were intent on getting the serial arsonist and finding justice, more than the cops. I thought the firefighters emerged really heroic in this story. The cops were dumping on the firefighters and saying they were amateurs, but they were on the right track. LAPD and LAFD have always been strict with chain of custody, even back in my day. Today the difference is that lawyers are attacking more; they’re attacking everything. A good example, of course, is the O.J. Simpson case when that whole incredible deluge of evidence was attacked bit by bit by bit. That sort of thing happens a lot more now, it seems to me. In years past people would except the authorities’ forensic analysis. Defense attorneys would kind of throw in the towel when good forensic ev
