Lawyers mull charges for Calif. fire-starting boy

Attorneys mull filing charges
Prosecutors said they would review evidence submitted by investigators before deciding whether to bring charges. In the meantime, the boy and his mother have left the ranch, Tomey said.

“Obviously I feel terrible for the people who are affected by the fire, and I know the child felt terrible about it,” Tomey said.

The fire is believed to have started about 50 yards behind the family’s trailer, where a vast triangle of blackened brush dips into a shallow canyon before disappearing over a ridge.

Wilted cacti and charred, brittle bushes litter the landscape behind the aluminum mobile home, which is fronted by a white picket fence, neatly arranged potted plants and a vegetable garden.

The trailer, where Tomey said the family lived for less than a year, overlooks the ranch’s stables and riding course. The blaze was reported by an employee who called 911, Tomey said.

Some legal experts say serious criminal charges are unlikely.

To win an arson conviction, prosecutors would have to prove the boy intended to cause harm, which would be difficult given that they seem to have accepted his explanation that the fire was an accident, said Cyn Yamashiro, who directs Loyola Law School’s Center for Juvenile Law and Policy.

The prosecutor’s office was “not sure whether they’ll bring any charges, given that it was an accidental fire,” Los Angeles County fire Capt. Michael Brown said Wednesday. In a news conference Wednesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he did not think the child meant any harm.

Expert: Difficult to prosecute kid
The boy could be incarcerated for three years if found guilty of a lesser charge of unlawfully starting a fire. For that count, prosecutors would have to prove only that he understood the risks of his actions, but Yamashiro said winning a conviction on even that charge could be difficult.

“They’d have to prove that at 10 years old he really appreciated what the risk of playing with matches would have been,” Yamashiro said. “It’s difficult to prosecute him under that theory.”

If the boy is convicted, state law requires that the court seek monetary damages as restitution for the millions of dollars lost by victims and spent on firefighting, Yamashiro said. His parents, however, wouldn’t face criminal charges.

Carousel Ranch sits on a canyon road that winds between brush-covered hillsides studded sparsely with homes, many of them one-story clapboard houses with abandoned cars and weathered swingsets out front. Some residents still aren’t sure how to react to news that a 10-year-old playing with matches devastated the area.

“What do you do? It was a kid,” said Peter Kaulbach, 49, who lost his home on his family’s Santa Clarita pumpkin farm. “It’s almost like I don’t have time to think about that issue right now.”

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