Posted on 11/18/2005 5:53:54 AM PST by radar101
federal judge rejected prison yesterday for the man who caused the devastating Cedar fire, finding that the blaze was not set recklessly or in an attempt to hurt anyone. Judge Roger T. Benitez said Sergio Martinez did what he thought he was supposed to do when he became lost while deer hunting in October 2003. The judge also found no evidence that Martinez was under the influence of drugs or alcohol when he started the fire.
Benitez noted that a hunting safety class Martinez, of West Covina, attended in 2002 recommended setting a signal fire as a last resort when lost. He contrasted Martinez's case with those involving arson, playing with fireworks or throwing cigarettes out of a car window.
With the option of sending Martinez to prison for up to five years, Benitez instead chose a sentence of six months in a private jail, in which he will have to spend his nights. He will be allowed to continue his job, in construction, during the day and be free on weekends to perform 960 hours of community service rebuilding homes or replanting forests.
"I see no point in him losing his job and becoming a burden on society," Benitez said.
He also placed Martinez on probation for five years and ordered him to pay restitution of $150 a month over that period toward education efforts for outdoors enthusiasts.
In court yesterday, Martinez tearfully apologized to the thousands of residents who lost their homes, families or friends in one of San Diego County's worst disasters.
"This is killing me," he said, expressing remorse for the 15 lives lost in the fire. "I will live with this forever."
Some of those affected by the fire who testified during the five-hour hearing in San Diego federal court expressed anger about Martinez's actions and asked that he be punished severely.
One woman placed a $2.98 Wal-Mart whistle on the defense table near Martinez and suggested he use it if he gets lost in the woods again.
However, most of the 16 people who testified blamed government agencies for the spread of the fire, saying they did not react quickly enough.
Martinez, 35, pleaded guilty in March to a felony charge of starting the fire, which burned 422 square miles and destroyed more than 2,400 homes. Estimates of the damage from the wildfire – the largest in state history – top $800 million.
Prosecutors asked that Martinez be sentenced to five years in prison. That was the maximum sentence possible under a plea bargain in which they agreed to drop charges that could have resulted in a 20-year sentence
Martinez was hunting in the Cleveland National Forest south of Pine Hills with Ronald Adkins, a friend from his job, when the two became separated in tall brush Oct. 25, 2003. Out of water and panicking after being lost for 11 hours, Martinez started a signal fire in hopes of being rescued, he said. A sheriff's helicopter crew, which had been sent to look for Martinez, found him.
Martinez, delirious and unable to walk, had to be dragged and carried to the copter through chaparral more than 8 feet tall.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry about all of this," he told his rescuers. "I thought I was going to die out there."
In court yesterday, Martinez testified for nearly an hour, saying that Adkins hurried him that morning as they headed for the hunting spot before dawn. Martinez admitted he smoked marijuana the night before but said he didn't smoke any while hunting.
Martinez said he didn't fill up his canteen or eat breakfast. He followed Adkins to the top of a ridge about 1,000 feet from where Martinez parked his truck.
Morning came and they didn't see any deer, and then, about 11 a.m., he suggested they return to the truck to get some lunch.
He said he fell behind as he was walking behind Adkins, looking for signs of deer on the ground.
"I put my head down," he said. "When I picked it up, he was gone."
He spent the next few hours trying to find the road and realized he was lost as he went up and down several hills. He lost his prescription sunglasses, fell repeatedly and became desperately thirsty.
He said he eventually reached a granite outcropping and, afraid he would die in the wilderness, decided to set a signal fire.
"I hated to do it," he said.
He gathered some grass and built a small fire, which he put out after a few minutes.
When no help arrived, he set another fire, but this one got out of control, with embers flying as he tried to swat it down.
"I didn't think I wasn't going to be able to control it," he said.
Things got increasingly desperate.
"That wasn't Sergio up there," he said. "That was a man who was dying."
The small fire that Martinez testified he had trouble putting out grew overnight and over the next week destroyed small mountain communities, devastated large swaths of public land and burned deep into San Diego neighborhoods such as Scripps Ranch and Tierrasanta.
Much of the testimony from victims yesterday centered on the government's response, or lack of one.
Witnesses challenged official accounts of when the fire began, why air crews didn't drop water or fire retardant on it early and how firefighters on the ground acted.
"He started the fire; our firemen let it burn way out of control," said Dona Schneider, who lost her Fernbrook home near Ramona and a friend who was killed in the fire. "I lost my life, but it wasn't because of Sergio."
Several witnesses said they were part of the Committee for Full Accountability on the Cedar Fire, a group of Ramona and Julian residents who said federal, state and local agencies have covered up a bungled response to the fire.
Martinez's lawyer, Ralph Rios, included many of their points in his argument for leniency.
But Benitez refused to immerse himself in those disputes.
"I'm not going to conduct an inquiry or second-guess anyone," he said.
After more than four hours of testimony from victims, a Forest Service investigator and a sampling of people affected by the fire, the judge said he had struggled for months to fashion a fair sentence.
He said he had to consider the damage the fire caused, the crime and Martinez's character and lack of significant criminal history.
Martinez and Adkins, he said, weren't breaking the law when they went deer hunting on the first day of the season. Martinez had a hunting license and obtained his rifle legally.
And he had attended the hunting safety course a year earlier.
"One of the things they tell you is if you get lost, start a fire," the judge said.
Martinez, he said, "did what is recommended people do in precisely the situation he found himself in."
The sentence, Benitez said, would have been quite different if he thought Martinez acted out of a desire to hurt someone, or as prosecutors Michael Lasater and Kevin Mulcahy argued in court papers, out of recklessness.
He ordered Martinez to work two days a month with groups such as Habitat for Humanity or the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection or fire departments.
There's no way that Martinez can ever repay people for their losses in the fire, the judge said. However, he ordered him to pay restitution of $150 a month for five years, for a total of $9,000.
A probation officer pointed out that restitution is typically shared among all the victims of a crime, but that would be impractical in this case.
In an unusual move, Benitez took suggestions about how to use the restitution money from some of the survivors in the courtroom.
Ed Spaeth of Ramona suggested the Forest Service use the funds to educate outdoors enthusiasts.
"That's a great idea," Benitez said.
Onell Soto: (619) 293-1280; onell.soto@uniontrib.com
Martinez, delirious and unable to walk, had to be dragged and carried
What about the ol' fire 3 shots, wait, fire 3 more?
In any case this goon out to be banned from going into a wilderness for life.
Why didn't he use big rocks to spell out help? Or hail a Russian submarine, or look for an old space capsule, or make a lie detector out of coconuts? Didn't this guy ever watch Gilligan's Island?
I don't see the point of putting this man in prison, and neither did the judge.
I don't see the point in any of his sentence. The man did not set fire to the area on purpose.
why did the hunter drive 80+/- miles from W. Covina to Julian to hunt deer when he could've traveled 10 mi. to the mountains - near his home ?
Hunter safety classes teach that's a bad idea - what goes up, must come down...
In any case this goon out to be banned from going into a wilderness for life.
Agreed. After spending ten years on a volunteer SAR team, I take enough stuff to keep me alive for a day even if I'm only planning on taking a short hike.
Go to the article--There is a picture there. This guy is about 5-7, and 300 pounds. His longest hike before this was from his pickup to the 7-11.
He still lives with his parents.
Because I think that Zones D11 and D14 were closed that year due to ??????????????? High fire danger. As a hunter I can only say that there are many idiots like this every year on the opener. The hunter safety class is a one day event of about 10 hours and it is a joke. Most of the guys out there on opening day have no business. I'm sure he and his other hunting party will be sued for negligence. Either way..........he'll live a miserable existance for the rest of his life.
Buried in the 10th and 30th-33rd paragraphs: the fact that most people still want an investigation into the coverup of the horrendous mismanagment that allowed the fire to become so devastating.
Witnesses called 911 to report the fire just after 4 PM (or earlier). The official account says that the first 911 call occurred after 5:30PM. Firefighting aircraft were not used the first day because someone made a decision that it was too close to darkness to start flying (hence the need to define the later 911 call as the excuse). That first evening, the fire spread out of control and could not be contained for many days.
Thanks. I did read the article. He's still a lameo who should do some jail time. The guy was smiling in court.
For the same reason that I drive 3+ hours sometimes to ride my bike in the mountains when I could hit the mountain trail from my back yard?
I don't know. I guess I better stop traveling to other places since it might make me a suspect if my car catches fire.
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