ZEELAND, Mich. — A West Michigan woman convicted of murdering her daughter in 2002 will not get a new trial.
Karen Boes, 67, is serving a life sentence for the killing of her 14-year-old daughter Robin Boes.
Last month in an Ottawa County Circuit Court, Judge Karen Midedema says despite new scientific consensus about burn pattern analysis and ethical questions surrounding a prosecutorial witness, the culmination of these factors isn't enough to return a different trial result.
Boes' request for a new trial was denied.
On July 30, 2002, Robin Boes died from smoke inhalation after her Zeeland home caught fire.
After firefighters extinguished the flames, investigators noticed the strong smell of gasoline on the stairs and in the upstairs hallway.
A detective found a five-gallon gas can in the victim's room at the time.
The mother and daughter had a tumultuous relationship, court documents show, and Karen Boes told multiple witnesses that she "hated her daughter" and "had a violent streak against her" leading up to the fire.
A jury convicted Karen Boes of felony murder in 2003, and she was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Her attorneys have filed multiple appeals in the case which have failed.
In 2021, the University of Michigan law school's Innocence Clinic started looking into the case.
The Innocence Clinic declined to comment.
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