For the second time since May, a Mendocino County man told jurors he by accident began the 2021 Hopkins Fire that destroyed 30 homes within the town of Calpella and never intended to harm anyone.
Devin Lamar Johnson, 23, testified Tuesday before a jury of eight men and 6 women, including two alternate jurors, in his arson trial in Marin County Superior Court.
This is Johnson's second trial since May. His first trial was declared a mistrial after jurors were unable to achieve a verdict after 4 days of testimony. His second trial before a brand new jury in Marin County began last Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Johnson repeated his testimony from his first trial, saying that although he began the 257-acre fire on September 12, 2021, by dropping a cigarette near dry vegetation, his actions weren’t intentional.
“It fell out of my hands before I could finish reading it,” he told the jury. “I looked for it but couldn't find it.”
Johnson's attorney, Dana Liberatore of the Mendocino County Public Defender's Office, asked Johnson, “Did you set the fire intentionally?”
Johnson answered “no” and said the damage was “devastating.”
Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster questioned Johnson's answer. During cross-examination Tuesday, Eyster asked Johnson what he remembered in regards to the timeline of events that led to the fireplace.
These included the moment Johnson left his nearby home that afternoon, the moment he walked right into a bar and located the used cigarette he desired to smoke, and the moment he stood in front of McFarland Trucking on the dry road where the fireplace began.
Eyster's efforts to get Johnson to supply more details about his actions that day were often followed by long pauses, responses corresponding to “I don't know” or “I don't remember,” or requests for the defendant to repeat his original query.
Eyster, who concluded the prosecution's evidence on Friday, pressed Johnson further, asking why he didn’t call for help when the fireplace broke out.
“I didn’t know anyone was there,” Johnson replied.
Eyster continued.
“Can you scream?” he asked.
“Yes,” Johnson replied.
“But you decided against it,” said Eyster shortly before he ended his cross-examination.
If convicted, Johnson faces ten years to life in prison.
Fueled by light winds and temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius, the Hopkins Fire raged through Calpella before reaching a hill on the sting of the Russian River and Lake Mendocino.
After destroying 30 homes and other buildings, the flames quickly spread across a 1,000-foot-high ridge to the western shore of Lake Mendocino.
About 200 people were evacuated from homes in the world. No injuries were reported.
Johnson was identified as a suspect after appearing on surveillance video from a store near where the fireplace began, investigators said.
McFarland Trucking footage presented to the court by prosecutors shows Johnson entering and exiting a forest road before smoke develops, investigators said.
Officials said Johnson's arrest was also helped by a photograph taken by an area photographer showing Johnson watching the fireplace from the Moore Street Bridge in Calpella.
Eyster referred to the photo on Tuesday and initially asked Johnson to substantiate that it was him standing on the bridge.
The defendant confirmed that it was him.
Distributed by Tribune News Service.
Originally published:
image credit : www.mercurynews.com