Teen Admits to Setting Germantown Hotel Fire

A 15-year-old girl stared solemnly at the courtroom floor Wednesday as she admitted to setting a fire in a Germantown hotel while her grandparents slept in the room.

"She has expressed remorse," her attorney, James Gulley, said outside the courtroom.

The teen is scheduled to be sentenced next week.

Prosecutor Jamey Kaplan announced in court that she wants the teen placed with the state Department of Children's Services.

"We think she still poses a hazard," Kaplan said.

She urged the judge to consider two other fires that occurred when the teen was present. Both were within minutes of each other at the grandparents' Cordova home on the evening of May 2.

Kaplan told the judge that around 3:30 a.m. on May 6, the girl went to the front desk of Homewood Suites on Wolf River Boulevard and asked the clerk for matches.

Soon, the clerk evacuated all hotel guests after hearing a fire alarm in the room where the teen and her grandparents, Kenneth and Doris Peters, were staying.

Kenneth Peters shouted for the clerk to get him a fire extinguisher and he put out the fire, which was contained to clothes inside a closet.

"I need to know if you want to admit to it or go to trial," Magistrate Felicia Hogan told the girl.

The teen replied "I admit it" in such a soft voice, the judge asked her to repeat her answer. Her grandparents stood by her side, but didn't speak in court and declined to comment outside the courthouse.

The teen's motive was not discussed in court.

Her attorney and prosecutors agreed she needs mental health treatment. Her grandparents are her legal guardians, but Gulley wouldn't discuss what had happened with the teen's parents.

The May 2 blaze heavily damaged the 7,205-square-foot Riveredge Drive home, formerly owned by the late music icon Isaac Hayes. Hayes died in the home in 2008.

Kaplan didn't call the teen a suspect in the Cordova fire, and did not mention a March 20, 2011, fire at another home where the teen's grandparents once lived. That home, now a vacant lot, is on Riveredge West, several blocks west of the former Hayes home.

The teen's attorney said another relative is suspected in those fires, though no one has been charged.

The magistrate agreed to keep the girl in the juvenile jail until she is sentenced May 30.

If the judge agrees to put the teen in state custody, DCS -- not the judge -- would decide when she is ready for release. The child welfare agency can hold a minor until the 19th birthday.

The agency's options include placement in a group home or lockup in a secured juvenile facility.

The teen's attorney said he plans to lobby for treatment in a mental health facility, with the judge determining her release date based on recommendations from those who are treating her.

"She needs mental health treatment, period, instead of going to jail," Gulley said, pointing out that she has never been arrested before.

The judge also could order house arrest or supervised probation to be overseen by court workers instead of DCS.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service