ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — This week, a Monroe County judge tossed out an indictment against the man accused of starting a fire at a Rochester home in 2004, which ultimately killed an 8-year-old girl. The shocking news about the dismissal came just hours before jury selection was set to begin in the case of Savannah Streber.
The judge cited a violation of the defendant’s right to a speedy trial after information about a decades-long confession came to light. New information was presented from a witness who shared a Monroe County jail cell with Kuhn in 2005. That witness took the stand in court in late 2024 and recently shared that in 2005, Kuhn confessed to killing the young girl, adding he reported this to two RPD officers.
“The statements that this person’s alleged to have made from his jail cell are hard to recreate 20 years later; memories fade, what corroboration or details there were, what cell they were in, what building they were in – were other witnesses nearby to hear it, all that is impossible or nearly impossible to recreate,” said Aaron Pam, Senior Associate at the law firm Tully Rinckey.
According to a statement issued by Rochester Police, in 2018, investigators with the Major Crimes Unit began reviewing the cold case file into the February 2004 murder of 8-year-old Savannah Streber. During the review, RPD said “information was uncovered that led to the 2023 arrest and indictment of Timothy Kuhn.” The police department goes on to say that last week, it was learned in 2005, investigators then received information indicating Kuhn as the suspect; however, the court ruled that the information was insufficiently documented or acted upon, ultimately leading to the ruling to dismiss the charges.
“Our country was founded on a principle that I think Thomas Jefferson wrote, which was that it’s better that a guilty person go free to really force and encourage prosecutors and law enforcement and police to play according to the rules than it is to convict somebody unfairly and send somebody to prison or the electric chair after an unfair trial,” Pam added.
As News 8 reported, the judge decided that the evidence from 2005 and any current or future evidence would remain the same, effectively violating the defendant’s right to a speedy trial. Pam notes there may be legal options, looking ahead.
“If the judge had ruled that the confession in the jail cell was not admissible and because too much time had passed, the confession couldn’t be used, but other evidence in the case and other witnesses in the case could still go forward, maybe the court could have done that but here did not and sometimes that’s an avenue for appeal, that the prosecution might appeal and ask a higher court,” said Pam.
It is unclear if an appeal is currently in the works. RPD says the electronic documenting procedures are now being reviewed, “on a department-wide level in order to continue preventing incidents like this from happening again.”
