Judge
reduces murder, arson charges
By Tim Bragg / The Fresno Bee
February 26, 2007
VISALIA — A judge reduced the charges against a man who had
been facing two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths
of an airborne fire crew last year.
Superior Court Judge James Hollman ruled today that
29-year-old Patrick Ryan Courtney should stand trial on
counts of second-degree murder and recklessly starting a
fire, instead of first-degree murder and arson.
Courtney is accused of starting several small forest fires
near Balch Park in the Tulare County mountains over the
Labor Day weekend. A California Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection spotter plane directing fire ground crews
battling those fires crashed Sept. 6, killing Visalian Rob
Stone, a Cal Fire battalion chief, and contract pilot
George "Sandy" Willett of Hanford.
Hollman told prosecutors today that they would need to know
what caused the plane to crash before the trial starts, to
rule out any superseding causes that would make Courtney
ineligible for the state's felony murder rule. The rule
allows prosecutors to charge people with murder if they
participated in a crime that led to the deaths of others.
Courtney's trial is scheduled to begin next month.
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