Woman Sentenced to 3 Years for Setting Explosive Blaze

A Mendocino County woman was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years in prison for setting an explosive fire she claimed was a desperate bid to kill herself and her severely disabled son.

Nancy Jo McGinty, 52, wearing white pants and a flower-print blouse, wept as she was handcuffed and led from the courtroom.

A half dozen firefighters, some of whom had fought the dangerous blaze McGinty set in December 2010, stood by.

"It's good to see the legal system works," said Brooktrails Fire Department Chief Daryl Schoeppner. He said McGinty endangered her son, firefighters and her neighbors in the wooded, Willits-area neighborhood.

McGinty said she set out oxygen and propane tanks, then ignited the fire because she could no longer cope with caring for her disabled adult son. The fiery eruption blew out the homes' walls.

A neighbor pulled her son from the fire. When firefighters arrived, they searched without success. The next morning, she appeared at the scene, claiming she had been in the bathtub the entire time. Firefighters said they'd checked the bathtub.

"She was not in that house," District Attorney David Eyster said during a March 16 pre-sentencing hearing.

Rather than face trial, McGinty pleaded guilty to attempted manslaughter and arson of an inhabited dwelling. She continues to claim to be a victim and to have attempted suicide.

"I got to the point in my life there was no hope," she said during the pre-sentencing hearing. "I didn't want to be alive any longer."

She also said she loved her son and would do anything for him.

"I'm a good person," McGinty said.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Copyright 2012 - The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, Calif.