Plea Bargain May Be Near In Deadly Arson Fire Prosecutors, Families Of Victims Will Meet Today To Discuss Deal In Martin Pang Case

A plea agreement in the case of Martin Pang, accused of the 1995 warehouse fire that killed four Seattle firefighters, is in the works and may be presented in King County Superior Court today.

Prosecutors plan to meet this morning with relatives of the firefighters, apparently to outline for them details of the possible agreement.

Neither prosecutors nor the defense attorney of alleged arsonist Pang would discuss the proposed plea, which could be presented to Judge Larry Jordan at a noon hearing.

Family members said they’ve been invited to a hastily called private briefing on the matter. The session originally was scheduled for Wednesday but was postponed after some of the relatives said they could not make it.

John Shoemaker, father of one of the fallen firefighters, said prosecutors did not tell him exactly what they wanted to say in the meeting, but they made it clear a major development is about to occur.

“I suspect they did get some agreement with him (Pang),” Shoemaker said. “Apparently, that’s what it is.”

Dan Satterberg, chief of staff for King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, said the meeting was called to explain something “very important” that is scheduled to happen at today’s hearing.

Officially, the session is listed only as a routine status conference before Superior Court Judge Jordan. Pang, 42, is scheduled to go on trial March 23.

Pang’s attorney, John Henry Browne, said he could not discuss the possibility that his client may be ready to plead guilty to starting the fire that destroyed his parents’ frozen-food warehouse.

“As of this moment, there is no plea agreement,” Browne said yesterday. “Any comments on what’s going on right now should come from the prosecutor.”

Pang’s defense was dealt a blow last summer when Jordan ruled that statements Pang made to the FBI after his arrest in Brazil would be admitted in his trial.

Agents say Pang not only confessed to starting the fire but drew them a diagram of how the blaze was set. Pang allegedly told agents he wanted them to know “my side of the story.”

Seattle Fire Lt. Walter Kilgore, Lt. Gregory Shoemaker and firefighters James Brown and Randall Terlicker died after a floor collapsed while they battled the Jan. 5, 1995, blaze in the dilapidated International District warehouse.

Pang fled to Brazil six weeks after the fire and was arrested there in March 1995. Prosecutors said he torched the building to collect insurance money.

A plea agreement, if one is reached, may resolve not just the single count of first-degree arson Pang faces, but prosecutors’ continuing attempts to hold him accountable for the deaths.

Prosecutors had said if Pang is convicted in a trial, they would ask Jordan to sentence him to a term far longer than the standard sentence range for first-degree arson of 21 to 27 months in prison. Up to a life term is possible.

Maleng originally had filed four counts of first-degree murder against Pang in addition to the arson charge, but the Washington State Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision last summer, said Pang cannot be tried for murder in the case.

Proceeding with a murder trial, the court ruled, would violate the conditions under which Pang was returned from Brazil. Brazilian officials had refused to extradite Pang on murder charges because in that country, fire deaths can be charged as murder only if the person who set the fire intended to kill someone.

Maleng appealed the state court’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, but in December, the high court refused to hear the case.

If prosecutors want family members to feel good about a proposed agreement, it must include a long prison sentence, said Brown’s mother, Claire Striegel.

“Life in prison. Nothing less,” she said.