Firehouse.com

FORT WORTH, Texas -- A jury sentenced Johnny Waller of Watauga to 45 years in prison Wednesday on three charges related to the arson death of a man in Haltom City in June 2008.

Waller, 27, was convicted of arson of a habitation causing death, felony murder and first-degree burglary of a habitation on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the jury sentenced him to 45 years on each charge in Judge Wayne Salvant's Criminal District Court No. 2, to run concurrently.

"There are many people in the world who do right," Tarrant County prosecutor Miles Brissette said during the punishment phase. "Then there are others like this one-man crime spree who brings all of his friends in and puts poison on the street."

Money owed to Waller for that poison led to the death of an innocent man, Geovany Guerra, 20, prosecutors said.

Because Waller is a repeat offender -- he served four years in prison for distributing methamphetamine in 2003 -- he could have been sentenced to life in prison, which is what prosecutors requested.

Waller wiped his eyes after the verdict was read.

Some of Guerra's relatives also had tears in their eyes.

"I pray for your mother," said Guerra's mother, Sonia Hagwood, addressing Waller after the verdict was read. "I know she's hurt. I know her heart is broken, but she still has you. I can't have my son."

Guerra's death

According to prosecutors and trial testimony, Waller sent three friends June 21, 2008, to collect a $100 drug debt owed to him by James Griggs, a resident of Spring Lake Apartments in Haltom City. But the friends couldn't find Griggs, so they ransacked his second-floor apartment and torched it.

Guerra's apartment was on the third floor on the same stairwell but on the other side. His body was found in the bathtub after firefighters extinguished the blaze, which was reported about 4:30 a.m.

Firefighters rescued several residents with ladders. The blaze destroyed 12 units, and another 12 had smoke and water damage, the Haltom City fire marshal said at the time.

Guerra was the only resident who could not escape the flames, prosecutors said.

"Life is dangerous, and things can happen to you," prosecutor Alan Levy said during his closing argument Wednesday. "You can get sick, an misfortune can follow you, but when you get home and into your bed, you don't expect to get burned to death by drug dealers."

Waller's attorney, Danny Burns, said his client was not present when the fire was set. Burns asked the jury to sentence Waller to 15 years, the minimum required because of his previous conviction.

"His intent was to harm property, maybe beat someone up," Burns said. "He didn't set that fire."

Investigators say they think the fire was set by brothers Jamie and Casimiro Sifuentes. The brothers, who are in prison on unrelated charges, have not been charged. A third person, Alan LeMaster, was arrested last week and admitted that he was there that morning, officials said. LeMaster also faces an arson charge and is awaiting trial in the Tarrant County Jail.

Waller wore a surgical mask in court because another jail inmate contracted chicken pox, court officials said. The mask was a precaution to protect Waller's attorneys, they said.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service