Sean Emery
The Orange County Register
(TNS)
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Nearly five years after fast-moving flames tore through more than 20,000 wild land acres in Orange and Riverside counties, an Orange County Superior Court jury acquitted the man accused of igniting the massive blaze.
Jurors following a month-long trial in a Santa Ana courtroom deliberated for a little more than a day before finding Forrest Clark, 56, not guilty of three felony counts of arson.
The jury convicted him of one remaining count of making criminal threats against his neighbor.
Even before the fire was fully extinguished investigators accused Clark of igniting the Holy fire with prosecutors later arguing the alleged arson stemmed from a long-running neighbor dispute. During one press conference, DA Todd Spitzer referred to Clark as a “monster.”
But, during his Santa Ana trial, Clark’s attorney, Alternate Defender Jason Phlaum, sharply criticized what he characterized as a sloppy and inadequate investigation by U.S. Forest Service and Orange County Fire Authority officials, repeatedly arguing that it failed to prove the wildfire was intentionally set or that Clark was at fault.
“If this investigation was done right, they would have come to the conclusion that Mr. Clark is innocent,” the defense attorney said. “He didn’t set this fire, he is not responsible for this fire, he did not commit an act of arson causing the Holy fire.”
With no physical evidence directly tying Clark to the start of the fire, threats Clark apparently aimed at his closest canyon neighbor – along with seemingly self-incriminating comments a raving Clark made to fire investigators – were the focus of the prosecution case.
Days after being released from a mental health hold, Clark’s neighbor, Frank Romero, overheard Clark ranting in his own cabin, and recorded some of the comments, including Clark apparently referring to Romero as “a walking dead man,” saying he was “going to die” and that he had “(expletive) with the wrong person.”
Hours later, Deputy District Attorney Dominic Bello told jurors, the flames that would soon overtake Holy Jim Canyon ignited in the vicinity of Romero’s cabin.
“That is how this defendant feels about Mr. Romero, that he is nothing…. that (Clark) can do what he wants and get away with anything,” the prosecutor said during his closing arguments on Monday. “It doesn’t sound like he is too crazy. Sounds like he wants to make a threat, convey that threat and later on in the day make good on that threat. Which is what he ends up doing.”
Amid hot, dry and windy conditions, the Holy fire ignited on Aug. 6 within Holy Jim Canyon, a rural Orange County community comprised of several dozen cabins nestled in the remote expanse of the Cleveland National Forest.
It took scores of firefighters more than a month to fully contain the flames, after the wildfire had already consumed more than a dozen cabins, burned through an estimated 23,136 acres and forced thousands of residents in both Orange and Riverside counties to flee for safety.
Around 12:46 p.m. on Aug. 6, 911 callers reported seeing smoking coming from an area near Romero’s cabin, and a short time later flames were seen at the front of the residence.
While investigators with the United States Forest Service and the Orange County Fire Authority have expressed confidence in their determination that the fire was intentionally set, they have acknowledged not knowing exactly what ignited it or what accelerants were used. The prosecutor noted that several possibilities — including lighters, matches and gasoline — were found at Clark’s cabin.
Clark’s own rambling statements drew the suspicion of fire investigators. At one point, Clark in response to their questioning speculated that the fire could have started with candles near the window of Romero’s cabin. At another point, when asked directly whether he started the fire, Clark responded “No,” then averted his gaze, paused and added “But maybe,” the investigators testified.
On the eve of an earlier court hearing, fire investigators acknowledged that they had been forced to re-assess their findings regarding the ignition point of the fire, determining it was in the general area of Romero’s cabin rather than inside of it.
But a pair of independent veteran fire investigation experts hired by the defense argued during the trial that the cause of the fire should have been officially deemed “undetermined” rather than attributed to arson.
The defense experts testified that the fire likely began closer to the main roadway, and said they were unable to rule out other potential, accidental causes such as a discarded cigarette or carbon offshoot from older vehicles traveling up a nearby incline.
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