SANTA ANA (CNS) - A Trabuco Canyon man who was accused of setting a blaze at his neighbor's remote cabin, sparking the massive 2018 Holy Fire, was acquitted Thursday of arson charges but convicted of making criminal threats.
An attorney for Forrest Gordon Clark, 56, argued during the trial that law enforcement experts made a "rush to judgment" in accusing him of setting the fire that burned 23,000 acres and destroyed 18 structures.
Jason Phlaum of the Alternate Defender's Office told jurors that defense experts were more thorough in their investigation of the Holy Fire's origins, concluding it began along a roadway, not in a cabin neighboring Clark's. Phlaum said the fire was more likely sparked by exhaust from a passing truck or a discarded cigarette, noting that witnesses reported seeing a white truck pass through the remote area around the time the fire began.
Prosecutors accused Clark of setting fire to the cabin of his next- door neighbor, Frank Romero on Aug. 6, 2018. Clark lived in Cabin 14 and Romero lived in Cabin 15, which were the closest residences in Trabuco Canyon, just 30 to 40 feet apart, Deputy District Attorney Dominic Bello said.
"He had the means and motive to start this fire," Bello said in his closing argument of the trial that started in April.
Bello argued that Clark had a burn mark on his shoulder when he was arrested, and while the defendant claimed to investigators he suffered it while fighting the blaze, there were no witnesses to back up that contention.
A key piece of evidence in the prosecution's case was a recording from Romero's phone, in which Clark is heard threatening to harm his neighbor about five hours before the blaze started. Sprinkled in with lewd insults on the recording were declarations such as, "Frank is a walking dead man," Bello said.
Jurors convicted Clark of felony criminal threats, but acquitted him of aggravated arson of five or more inhabited structures, arson of an inhabited structure and arson of a structure or forest.
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