Set free after 1985 murder conviction, man finding new life

By John Tunison MLive.com IONIA, Mich. (AP) -- Now that he's been set free, David Gavitt is trying to move on. But life isn't easy after spending 26 years in prison for a horrendous crime -- murdering his wife and two young children. It was a crime he swore all along he didn't commit. "I am upset it took 26 years of my life before the truth came out. I try to ask God for forgiveness and be thankful that Michigan doesn't have the death penalty," said Gavitt. The 54-year-old was released from prison June 6 on a legal motion from Ionia County Prosecutor Ron Schafer, who conceded that arson evidence used to convict Gavitt of murder was not accurate. It was a long journey to freedom for Gavitt, who had lost an extended legal battle in the late 1980s to get a new trial. This time, attorneys with the Michigan Innocence Clinic took up his plight. Gavitt, who went in prison as a young man and emerged a graying, middle-aged man, can hardly believe he is free. "To be honest with you, sometimes I did give up hope. I thought the truth would never come out," he said. "I looked to my (deceased) wife for strength when times were bad. When I got feeling that way, I truly believed that it was Angela I could hear in the back of my head telling me 'Don't ever give up.'" It was Angela, along with daughters Katrina, 3, and Tracy, 11 months, that he was accused of killing inside their Ionia area home by setting it on fire, using gasoline as fuel. Gavitt was the only one to escape the March 1985 fire, but was severely injured trying to rescue family members. He said he doesn't know for sure what started the fire, but regrets not having working smoke detectors in the house. Gavitt's release essentially hinged on the retesting of carpet samples from the burned home using new technology. The results could not prove the presence of gasoline as previously alleged. Today, as he tries to make a new life living in Southwest Michigan, Gavitt said he cannot understand why he was prosecuted. "The whole trial made no sense to me," he said. He spent five years at the prison in Jackson, then went to Adrian for a short time before winding up at Carson City for the last 20 years. As a level 2 inmate, he was able to work as a kitchen clerk for many years. Life on the outside has been a struggle in many ways, Gavitt said. "I'm trying to catch up on technology that has changed and trying to find a job," he said. So far, he's surviving on donations from supporters of the Innocence Clinic, but has hopes of getting back into the same line of factory work he did in the 1980s. Another person is trying to get him a cheap car. Gavitt said he knows that some people - including some relatives of his deceased wife and even the Ionia County prosecutor - aren't entirely convinced of his innocence. Schafer in June said his move to have Gavitt released was more about not being able to prove the arson, not whether Gavitt was innocent. Schafer was not the prosecutor when Gavitt was convicted, but has read transcripts of testimony. Circumstantial evidence at trial hinted at strife in the marriage. But Gavitt said there was none. "Angela was loved and happy," he said. "That's what matters to me. I can't change these people feeling good or bad toward me. I did my best as a father and husband." In his first hours out of prison, he visited the gravesites of his wife and children. "I never got a chance to be at the cemetery after the fire," he said. "There was no time for grieving then, but I cried in prison and my heart still bleeds for Angela. "This is something that will be with me for the rest of my life," he said. "That was my family. That was my life. That was my whole world." Gavitt now is trying to forge a new life. He's planning a marriage to a woman he met four years ago whose son is in a Wisconsin prison. And he's getting used to gadgets that essentially didn't exist in the 1980s, such as cell and smart phones. "I suck at texting right now, but I'm trying to learn," he said. Published: Thu, Sep 20, 2012