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Punishment recommended for Floyd County prosecutor

NEW ALBANY, Ind. (AP) – An Indiana Disciplinary Commission hearing officer has recommended that Floyd County prosecutor Keith Henderson be publicly reprimanded for his actions in a triple-murder case.

David L. Pippen published the recommendation in the Indiana Supreme Court, writing that Henderson violated ethics in pursuing a deal to write a book about the David Camm case between the second and third trials.

The disciplinary commission had previously accused Henderson of lying about the book deal, and then being deceitful in seeking taxpayer funds to pay for his ethics defense.

Henderson has said he doesn’t believe there was any impropriety.

According to the recommendation, ethics rules say attorneys aren’t allowed to negotiate publicity rights arising from representation of their clients.

Pippen’s recommendation will go before the state Supreme Court, which will decide whether to accept or reject it.

Questions rose about Henderson’s actions after he won a conviction during a second trial for Camm, a former Indiana state trooper who was accused of killing his wife, Kimberly, and their two children in the fall of 2000. Camm was acquitted after a third trial in fall 2013.

The disciplinary commission says a literary agent contacted Henderson’s wife while the jury was deliberating at Camm’s second trial in Warrick County. Within a month or so, Henderson signed an agent agreement. But after Camm’s conviction was overturned, he told the agent that publication may have to be put on hold while he prosecuted a third case.

The state Court of Appeals removed Henderson from the case. Special Prosecutor Stan Levco of Evansville was appointed to it.