Our View - Sunday
TALE OF 2 CONVICTS, BARTON & TOTER
The absurd injustice of fire starter's sentence
A tale of two convicts reveals a criminal justice system that's out of control.
Meet Convict A: Michael Toter. At age 16, having driven a few weeks, Michael used momentary poor judgment, driving too fast on Monument Hill. He had a car accident. It killed his friend, Sara Michelle Losasso. Michael was given four years of probation and 60 days in jail - a pretty lenient deal, considering someone died as a result of his actions. Sara's parents sued Michael and his parents.
When nearing the end of probation, Michael received a speeding ticket in another jurisdiction while transporting an ill friend for help. He asked police to report the ticket to El Paso County authorities, a request noted on the citation. The speeding allegation was dismissed and El Paso County authorities were never told of the unproven charge.
Technically, Michael violated his probation and District Attorney John Newsome wants him in prison for six years. So rest easy: For six years we'll be protected from a young man who has been charged with speeding twice, convicted once. For six years, he won't pay taxes, earn a degree, serve in the military, or contribute to the workforce. Thank goodness he'll be in a cage.
Meet Convict B: Terry Barton. At age 38, while working as a U.S. Forest Service fire spotter, Barton burned a letter she claims came from her estranged husband. She did this in a dense forest during a drought, intentionally violating a burn ban. With this act, Barton started the Hayman fire - the largest forest fire in Colorado's history. It burned 137,000 acres and destroyed 133 homes worth tens of millions of dollars. As Fourth Judicial District Judge Thomas Kennedy said to Barton: "The results of your conduct will be visible long after everyone in this courtroom is dead, and after their children are dead."
But it's so much worse than barren forests for generations to come.
Barton's big fire led to the deaths of six innocent people, including two teenagers. The fire was so enormous that all available personnel and equipment in Colorado and surrounding states couldn't put it out. Volunteers came to help from all over the country, including a group from Grants Pass, Ore. En route to help extinguish Barton's fire, the van the volunteers were riding in crashed and they died. They were: Retha Shirley, 19; Daniel Rema, 28; Jake Martindale, 20; Bart Bailey, 20; and Zachary Zigich, 19. Another woman died from inhaling smoke from Barton's fire.
Initially, Barton was a hero because she claimed to have spotted the fire. When authorities discovered that she had started it, they believed Barton did so in order to look like a hero. Barton later explained that she started the fire by accident. Sure she did.
Giving Barton all benefit of the doubt, it still wasn't an "accident." She was a trained professional, employed to protect us from fire. For someone her age, with her training, to light an envelope in a parched forest, in violation of a burning restriction, represents incomprehensible negligence.
An accident, by contrast, would be driving too fast and losing control of a car at 16, the age of insanity.
So let's reassess: Toter had an accident, during a bad blip in time as a teen. His accident led to the death of a friend and endless grief for those who loved her. On a probation technicality, Toter may do six years in the pokey.
Barton, by contrast, intentionally lit a fire in a dry forest while employed to suppress fires. She lied to authorities about her role, basking briefly in a hero's spotlight. Her actions are linked to six deaths, 133 destroyed homes, scores of ruined lives, 137,000 acres of devastated forest, and the chronic erosion problems landowners and the forest service will face for generations to come.
Clearly, the crimes of Convicts A and B have little in common. One was a fairly typical accident with devastating consequences for two families. The other was an intentionally negligent act, at best, with historically significant consequences for hundreds of homeowners, the families of six who died, the United States Forest Service and the entire United States.
Yet Barton and Toter have more in common than one might think. Barton, whose actions ruined homes and forests and lives, goes free in June. She will have served six years in prison.
Toter, who had a boyhood car accident, could be starting a sixyear prison stay just as Barton walks. His punishment will effectively match that of a full-grown adult who started Colorado's biggest, costliest fire while feeding from the government dole in a position of public trust.
At a recent court hearing that resulted in Barton's June release date, Deputy Public Defender Marcus Henson said Barton wants victims of her crime to "get rid of the anger in their heart and move forward."
In her own statement, Barton said: "I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm asking people to get on with their lives."
Except for those six who no longer have their lives.
Newsome, who wants Convict A to do six years just like Convict B has done, used Barton's recent hearing to emphasize the magnitude of her crime. He wanted more time for Barton, but it wasn't up to him.
"She caused over $30 million in damage. But more importantly, she burned our trust," Newsome said.
She burned our trust? No, she burned forests and houses. She ruined lives. People died. It was a bit more expensive than the cost of our trust. Her foolish, possibly malicious actions as an adult cost us dearly.
Convict A and Convict B. One had a car accident. The other gave us gross negligence and mass destruction. Six years in a cage for each? It doesn't add up.
