A Louisville man who served eight years for arson claims investigators manipulated him into making a false confession by providing him beer during the interrogation and threatening his girlfriend with prosecution.
U.B. Thomas III was convicted of setting four apartment house fires in 2011, but a judge tossed out the conviction in March. Thomas filed a lawsuit last month against the Louisville Fire Department's chief, arson investigators and other officials for damages. His civil attorney, Aaron Bentley, didn't specify a dollar amount.
Not only did Thomas drink beer investigators gave him but he said he popped illegal pain pills in an interrogation room before falsely confessing to arson, according to the lawsuit.