Jurors acquitted a Tulsa man Wednesday night on charges that he murdered two people who were killed in an apartment complex fire that prosecutors contend was starting by a meth lab.
The jury found Mark William Roberts, 46, guilty of one count alleging that he was manufacturing or attempting to manufacture a controlled dangerous substance, but it acquitted him of first-degree arson.
The verdicts were delivered after more than five hours of deliberations, and a sentencing stage began in District Judge William Kellough's court around midnight.
During the sentencing stage, prosecutors planned to introduce evidence that Roberts has previous felony drug convictions.
Investigators said the fire began about 4 a.m. March 10, 2009, in Roberts' unit at the Royal Arms Apartments, in the 5100 block of South Norfolk Avenue, and spread to other apartments.
Maria Martinez, 39, and Armando Nunez, 35, who were in a neighboring apartment, died after being burned in the blaze.
Another neighbor, Nikki Cain, was rescued from her apartment by firefighters but suffered smoke inhalation and permanent brain damage.
If Roberts had been convicted on either murder count, the sentencing options would have been life in prison with or without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors Erik Grayless and John Salmon said testimony from fire investigators and other evidence indicated that the blaze started in the living room of Roberts' apartment while the defendant was cooking methamphetamine.
Testimony in the trial started Jan. 9. Jurors heard a recording of a 911 call for help from Cain, who could be heard saying, "Help me!" and "Oh, God, I can't breathe!"
Firefighter Chad Meyer testified last week that he entered Cain's apartment and encountered fire "from the floor to the ceiling."
He testified that he saw "a foot sticking out of a blanket."
Meyer indicated that Cain was not breathing and said he picked her up and took her out of the building.
"As firefighters, we're supposed to show up and make things better," he said.
"Nikki Cain will forever be a part of my life," he testified.
Roberts, who according to a police detective said he had been asleep on a couch in his second-floor apartment, was burned in the fire.
Salmon said Roberts was burned when his meth lab "exploded."
Testimony indicated that Roberts asked a friend to take him to the hospital.
Kathy Smith, who said she and Roberts were good friends, testified that she saw the fire at the complex and said his apartment was "deadly black."
"I thought he was dead," she said.
Smith testified that when she saw Roberts walking slowly out of a breezeway, she smelled burned flesh.
Roberts asked her to take him to a hospital and said, "Please don't tell anyone," Smith testified.
She said she and Roberts had used methamphetamine together previously.
Defense attorneys Mark Collier and James Huber maintained that prosecutors did not prove that there was an active meth lab in Roberts' apartment and did not establish the cause of the fire.
Roberts did not testify.
In a 2009 recorded statement to investigators, he said he did nothing to start the fire.
In a closing argument, Collier indicated that fire investigators jumped to conclusions and made assumptions, and he said the prosecution appealed to "societal alarm" regarding meth labs.
Defense lawyers maintained during the trial that potential evidence recovered from the fire scene was not properly documented and preserved.
Copyright 2012 - Tulsa World, Okla.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
