I am not a fire victim and for that I am extremely grateful. I still have my home, my personal possessions and heirlooms. I haven’t been at the mercy of friends and family to keep a roof over my family’s heads. I haven’t had to pay a mortgage on a house that no longer exists or forced to foreclose because my insurance only paid a fraction of the rebuild costs. I haven’t struggled to get out of bed each morning, while trying to get my life back to some sort of normalcy.
Fifteen months after the Corral Fire, the struggle continues; lives turned upside down because a group of cowards had total disregard for human life.
The injustices to these courageous victims was perpetuated again last week after they appeared before Judge Lesley Dunn and made heartfelt and emotional pleas for justice in the sentencing of Brian David Franks. Franks, a 28-year-old man, was about to be sentenced to 300 hours of community service and five years probation after agreeing to testify against his cohorts. This is the very man who stole the bundles of firewood that were used to ignite the wildfire and the same man who drove away and didn’t have the human conscience to dial 911 at a time when we were most vulnerable.
As much as I was disappointed with Judge Dunn’s failure to sentence Mr. Franks to something that reflected both the crime and the consequence, the weight of responsibility falls most squarely on the prosecutor, Ann Ambrose, who represented the fire victims and the people of California in a completely reprehensible and shameful manner. After all, it was Ann who negotiated the deal in exchange for Mr. Franks’ testimony without ever once contacting a fire victim, or seeing the destruction first hand.
Even Judge Dunn was interested to know how Miss Ambrose determined that 300 hours of community service was a fair sentence. You would think that it was carefully calculated and took into consideration the hundreds of fire victims, the 5,000 acres burned, the 53 homes destroyed, the 37 homes damaged, the dozens of dogs, cats and wildlife that perished, the many families displaced and the injuries to six brave firefighters who risked their lives to save as much as they could.
Believe me, we were all shocked and outraged to hear Ambrose respond after an inappropriate smile to Mr. Franks’ attorney and say, “It was just something that was negotiated.” This, of course, came after she was an hour late for the sentencing.
Ambrose’s actions were almost as unaccountable and reckless as the actions of the men responsible for starting the fire and she should be embarrassed and ashamed of her callous methods and that justice was not served under her lead. The people of California and the victims deserved better. We will continue to remain united and see that justice is served, with or without Ambrose involved.
Paul J. Morra