By Michael Howell
All three of the young men facing felony and misdemeanor charges of negligent arson for starting the Roaring Lion Fire have filed ‘not guilty’ pleas in District Court. Two of them, Steven Banks and Cody William Knez, are being tried in Judge Jim Haynes’ court while the third, Tyler Landon Johnson, is being tried in Judge Jeff Langton’s court. The fourth camper, a juvenile female, who is being tried in Youth Court on essentially the same charges, has also denied committing the offenses.
The young men, all 18 years old, if convicted could be sentenced to serve anywhere from zero to 10 years in jail, fined from zero to $50,000, and ordered to pay restitution. The costs of the fire response and suppression efforts was estimated by the County Attorney at the time that the charges were filed to be about $9.1 million. He said that this estimate does not include damage to buildings in the fire. Sixteen residences and 49 outbuildings were destroyed in the fire.
Charges against the campers are based on a joint investigation of the origin and cause of the fire conducted by agents from the USFS and the local Sheriff’s Office.
According to the charging documents, the four campers built a fire on the evening of July 27 which, after “creeping” for four days undetected through the turf, suddenly roared to life on July 31, growing from one acre in size to over 400 acres within 48 minutes of being spotted.
“Fire pattern indicators within the specific and general origin areas lead investigators to believe the fire crept through the fine dead fuels (pine needles, duff and small twigs) for several hours to days, before the passage of the cold front that caused the fire activity observed on July 31, 2016,” concludes the incident report. Investigators also located a number of items of trash at the scene and in the campfire ring indicating that it had not been used after the young campers left on July 28.
In County Attorney Bill Fulbright’s affidavit of probable cause, in all four cases, it states that the campers admit to digging a hole and surrounding it with rocks and building a fire. Photos of the fire were posted on the internet. It also states that in their interviews each of them claimed that some efforts were made to extinguish the campfire that evening including pouring creek water and drinking water on it, and putting dirt on it. One defendant claims to have “felt” the fire the next morning to be sure that it was out before leaving.
Last Thursday, at the arraignment of Steven Banks, a motion by his attorney Mike Montgomery for a preliminary hearing and/or a motion to dismiss, was denied by Judge Haynes. Haynes said the state had established probable cause and that a jury will decide on the facts in the case.
In his brief, Montgomery argues that criminal negligence, as defined by statute, is based on a person disregarding a risk and that “the risk must be of a nature and degree that to disregard it involves a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the actor’s situation.” According to Montgomery, gross deviation means, “a deviation that is considerably greater than lack of ordinary care.”
He argues that the campers took the ordinary precautions and followed “Smokey Bear’s” rules for putting out a fire and being sure it is out. He argues that even if it is proven, and he doesn’t think it is, that the campfire used by the campers was the origin of the fire, their actions cannot be construed as criminal negligence since they took reasonable care to see that their campfire was extinguished.
“By denying the motion,” Montgomery said after the hearing, “the judge is saying that it will be up to a jury to decide this question. It is important to have this dialogue. Mr. Fulbright will do his job and I will do mine.”
Montgomery noted that his client, who accepted a prohibition on entering the national forest as part of his release agreement, was granted an exception upon request to visit the site as part of an inspection to be used in his own defense. Montgomery said that they would need to do their own investigation with their own experts, although he didn’t know if that would be affordable.
An omnibus hearing has been scheduled for December 8.