Jefferson man gets 7 years for fire that killed father

SALEM, Ore. – A Jefferson man has been sentenced seven years and three months in prison for starting a fire that set a duplex ablaze and killed his 81-year-old father.

The Statesman Journal reported that John Anthony Duran’s sentencing Friday came one week after he pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, reckless burning and three counts of reckless endangerment.

Marion County sheriff’s investigators said the 38-year-old Duran told them he was on a four-day methamphetamine binge when a chair in his room caught fire, starting the December 2014 fire, which killed his father, Candido Duran, and displaced three other people.

Candido Duran’s daughter, Rosa Duran-Perez, described her dad as a father of 10 who baled his own hay and was proud of passing a driving exam into his 80s.