57-year-old man convicted of setting man on fire in downtown Spokane

A 57-year-old man who doused another man with gasoline and set him on fire last year in downtown Spokane was found guilty by a jury Wednesday.

Dupree L. Meadows was convicted of first-degree assault for the Sept. 17 attack under the Browne Street viaduct that left David Karn, 40, with burns that covered two-thirds of his body, according to court documents.

Karn was taken to a local hospital and then airlifted in critical condition to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle . Karn survived the assault, but his condition and recovery status was unclear Thursday.

Spokane police arrested Meadows, who was listed as homeless in court documents, two and a half weeks after the assault in East Central Spokane.

Karn told police he was on one of the sidewalks under the Browne Street viaduct, located south of Sprague Avenue, when a man he knows as “Dupree” walked up to him, poured gasoline or some type of flammable liquid on him, and then lit him on fire. Karn ran, flagged down an officer and provided a statement.

Investigators collected a lighter, a torch made of aluminum pipe and a rag, a plastic milk bottle with holes on the top that contained an accelerant, and burnt bedding, court records show. Spokane firefighters also noticed clothing on fire at the viaduct.

Video surveillance from the area showed a man running north from the viaduct as people attended to Karn. Police identified the man running away as Meadows.

On Oct. 3, a Seattle police detective showed Karn, who was receiving “around the clock care,” a photo montage of six people, and Karn picked a photo of Meadows as the suspect, according to court documents. Karn said he has known Meadows for 10 years.

Meadows is set to be sentenced April 24.

Karn is not the first man set on fire in Spokane.

Nearly 20 years ago, Matthew B. Trammell killed a homeless amputee by setting him on fire as he slept next to his wheelchair in downtown Spokane, according to previous Spokesman-Review reporting. A judge sentenced Trammell in 2007 to more than 18 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the 2006 death of 50-year-old Douglas Dawson.

Prosecutors said Trammell and Sean P. Knold robbed a woman downtown before Trammell lit Dawson on fire. Dawson died three days later at Harborview.