Defense counsel for James Edwin Barnett told jurors his client didn’t commit a deadly arson fire that killed three Baltimore firefighters–a claim that would become “abundantly clear” as the case is presented.
Barnett is accused of setting the Jan. 24, 2022, fire at 205 S. Stricker Street that killed Lt. Paul Butrim, Firefighter Kelsey Lacayo, and Lt. Kelsey Sadler. He faces second-degree arson, second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and reckless endangerment charges. His trial began Oct. 5 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Alan Lazerow.
The state’s attorney opened by discussing the heroic work firefighters do and the risks they face in the line of duty.
“Sometimes firefighters die. That’s a fact of life. Accidents happen, but this was no accident,” said the prosecutor.
The prosecutor said firefighters responded around 5:51 a.m. to a fully engulfed vacant row house after reports children were trapped in the building. As the blaze intensified the building imploded from top to bottom trapping six firefighters inside, leading to a frantic 100-minute rescue effort. Tragically, three didn’t survive.
The prosecutor then described surveillance footage from the area. He said a person wearing a blue-and-yellow jacket entered the rear of the property and remained inside for about eight minutes, followed by four flicks of light investigators say came from a butane lighter. Smoke emerged from the rear of the building before the blaze became visible around 5:25 a.m.
Investigators followed the individual through surveillance footage and eventually developed Barnett as a person of interest. The state said police later followed him to another vacant property, where they found a blue-and-yellow jacket consistent with the one seen in the footage.
The prosecution said Barnett allegedly admitted being inside the vacant property where the suspect’s jacket was found but denied being the person seen in surveillance footage from the night of the fire.
“You will know he is the person who started the fire…but you will not know why,” the state told jurors, acknowledging there was no apparent motive for the crime.
Defense attorney Jason Peter Rodriguez called the prosecution’s theory “puzzling.” He described the firefighters as heroes and the incident as a “tragedy without question,” but argued that trying to hold Barnett criminally responsible for firefighters voluntarily entering the burning building was “wild.”
Rodriguez said the case came down to two questions: whether a crime was committed and whether Barnett committed it. Rodriguez argued the evidence would not support either conclusion.
Barnett “is innocent of all charges,” Rodriguez told jurors. He said that “justice demands” that Barnett be found not guilty.
