A hearing is scheduled for this Thursday.
By Olivia Damavandi / Assistant Editor
As the four remaining defendants accused of starting the 2007 Corral Canyon Fire await their pretrial conference Feb. 25, two were scheduled to appear at the Van Nuys Superior Court this week Thursday seeking a motion to dismiss.
The Corral Fire started after a number of individuals built an illegal campfire in a cave on state parkland at the top of Corral Canyon on Nov. 24, 2007. Embers from the fire sparked flames on the dry hillsides, which were fueled by roaring Santa Ana winds. Detectives found at the scene alcohol containers, food wrappers and bundled fire logs, which they were able to trace to the five men originally held accountable.
William Thomas Coppock, 25, Brian Alan Anderson, 24, Eric Matthew Ullman, 20, and Dean Allen Lavorante, 21, were each charged with felony counts of recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury and recklessly causing a fire to an inhabited structure. Prosecutors allege the blaze was started ?during and within an area of a state of emergency.?
Defendant Brian David Franks, 29, in 2008 agreed to a plea bargain in which he was sentenced to five years probation and 300 hours community service for his involvement with the fire. In addition, Franks agreed to testify against the other four defendants in the case.
Coppock and Anderson are seeking a motion to dismiss the case.
Coppock?s attorney, Andrew Flier, on Tuesday listed various reasons supporting the motion to dismiss. Anderson?s attorney, Upinder Kalra, was reached by phone Monday but denied comment.
?Mr. Coppock has no record, has been employed for many years and is well thought of,? Flier said in a phone interview Tuesday. ?He was going to go party with some friends in an area that the government, including the Malibu law enforcement officials and the fire department, are well aware is a party spot. No one was going there to kill and rape, they were just going to have a nice time. We were all kids one day.?
According to Flier, Franks in his testimony last year said the fire had already been ignited in the cave by other individuals by the time the five defendants showed up, and that the defendants did everything they could to ensure it was extinguished before they left.
Flier also said the fact that the fire occurred in Malibu is an obstacle in obtaining the motion to dismiss charges against Coppock and Anderson.
?They?re being made scapegoats because this is Malibu, a very affluent community, period,? Flier said. ?I don?t think if we were in lovely El Monte or Compton they would even file the case.?
Stating that the fire caused a quarter of a billion dollars in damages, Flier additionally argued the logic of residents affected by the fire seeking monetary compensation from the two defendants because, he said, neither of them can financially afford to pay restitution. ?It?s not about restitution, it?s about ?hey, we have to blame someone so we feel better about ourselves,?? Flier said. ?I think this is a case that everyone should work out for a probationary sentence. I don?t think they [the defendants] were reckless, I think at the most they were negligent and that?s not the standard.?
But Flier?s words are little consolation to some Corral Canyon residents who lost their homes to the fire and have not been able to rebuild or move back.
?I am hoping, and if justice is served, this case will not be dismissed,? Corral fire victim Sarah Grisanti said in a phone interview last week. ?If it were dismissed I?m not sure how I would feel about it. It would make me very disappointed in the legal system, to say the least.
?It really devastated so many families,? Grisanti said. ?Nobody told us who started in the fire in 1993 but we know what happened in this fire. We have to bring them to justice.?
The Corral Fire burned a total of 4,900 acres and destroyed 53 homes, while damaging 37 others.