Attorney Says Pang Should Return To Seattle Extradition Pending For Suspect In Warehouse Fire That Killed Four

Martin Pang should return voluntarily to face murder charges for the death of four firefighters in a warehouse arson blaze rather than fight extradition from Brazil, his lawyer said Friday.

Alan Ressler told reporters he might leave for Rio de Janeiro to meet with Pang as early as Sunday but first wanted to hire a Brazilian lawyer to investigate extradition and related issues.

Neither Ressler nor Pang’s parents, Harry and Mary Pang, have heard from him since his arrest Thursday night in the fashionable Ipanema section of Rio, the lawyer said.

“I feel that communication is going to be difficult until somebody can go in there and see him,” Ressler said. “I’m not sure that he has access to a telephone.”

The United States has 60 days to present a formal request for extradition, but Brazilian police think it won’t take anywhere near that long.

“Even the White House called us to make sure we had captured Pang,” Federal Police Director Vicente Chelloti said in Rio.

If Brazilian authorities decide Pang entered the country illegally and should be deported rather than extradited, his appeal options may be more limited, but those questions remain unanswered, Ressler said.

Pang, 39, is charged with four counts of firstdegree murder in an arson that destroyed his parents’ business, Mary Pang’s Food Products Inc., on Jan. 5. Four firefighters died after a floor collapsed beneath them in the aging warehouse.

The elder Pangs released a two-paragraph written statement through Ressler expressing relief that their adopted son was unharmed.

“We continue to love and support him and hope that his returning to Seattle and trial will prove his innocence,” the statement said. “We sincerely hope that the tragedy of the firefighters’ loss is not compounded by the conviction of an innocent person.”

As Pang’s lawyer, Ressler said the possibility of the death penalty was his biggest concern.

Capital punishment was ruled out earlier by King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng for lack of evidence that the fire was intended to cause death, but Ressler said Pang might be charged with a capital offense under federal law.

However, Dan Dohonoe, a spokesman for Maleng, dismissed that scenario Friday.

“Nothing is anticipated in the way of any federal prosecution,” Donohoe said.