Lawyers fire last missives in Santa Monica arson trial
LAX COURTHOUSE — Alleged arsonist Anthony Smith for the second time is waiting for a jury to decide his fate.
A standout defensive end with the LA/Oakland Raiders for nine seasons, Smith has been in custody for 18 months as a suspect in the February 2003 fire that gutted Simply Sofas on Lincoln Boulevard.
Lawyers delivered closing arguments in the case and handed it to jurors late Monday afternoon. This capped a seven-day trial that included testimony from Smith and his wife, fire specialists and investigators, and two homeless people who were on the street the night of the fire.
Smith stood trial on the felony arson charge in June, but a jury deadlocked and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz declared a mistrial. Judge Schwartz said at the time Smith likely would be convicted in a second trial and ordered him to remain in custody in lieu of $1 million bail.
Prosecutors argue Smith lit the fire after arguing with store owner Marilyn Nelson over the value of some items he left at the store to be sold on consignment. Smith’s name and address were printed on 21 partially burnt items found inside makeshift firebombs used to ignite the blaze.
“Did he count on those bottles burning up? Yes. Did it happen? No. Why? Because he didn’t know the physics of fire,” Deputy District Attorney Jean Daly argued at the close of the trial Monday. “He, like many people in terms of watching television shows, expected everything to burn up in a great big conflagration.
“Did he count on those bottles burning up? Yes. Did it happen? No. Why? Because he didn’t know the physics of fire.” — JEAN DALY Deputy district attorney
“Didn’t happen that way.” Smith’s lawyer, Michael Evans, accused investigators and Nelson of lying and of ignoring key evidence in their zeal to convict Smith. He said Nelson profited several hundred thousand dollars in insurance payouts, and told jurors the fire was lighted from inside the store.
As evidence, Evans pointed out that one of the three firebombs was found upright and partially beneath a desk inside the store, meaning it must have been placed there from inside. The firebombs were made out of five-gallon water jugs filled with paper scraps and gasoline.
Prosecutors claimed the jugs were thrown or rolled through a window. Both sides agreed the only way the jugs would fit through the window was sideways.
“There is no way it could be in this position,” said Evans, who paced back and forth in front of the jury box and raised his voice emphatically. On several occasions, he pointed at both the lead investigator in the case and Nelson, who listened as lawyers gave their closing arguments. “It had to have been placed from the inside.”
Evans further argued that Nelson intentionally kept the security system off. He put an official from ADT on the stand last week to testify there had been no calls for service on the alarm system for more than a year. Nelson had testified the alarm was left off because it didn’t work properly.
As to the presence of the documents in the firebombs, Evans painted an alternative scenario that involved day laborers hired by Smith mistakenly throwing away boxes of personal documents in a trash bin outside of Simply Sofas when they were at the store to retrieve several unsold items. Those documents could have been retrieved by the real arsonist, Evans suggested.
Evans also pointed to the testimony of a homeless woman who was on the street the night of the fire. That woman said she heard a cracking sound when the window was broken and saw a skinny black man near the store. She also testified she saw a gold van leaving the scene shortly after the fire was set.
Smith stands at 6 feet 4 inches tall and, at the time of the fire, weighed 360 pounds. Though his car is gold, it is an SUV and not a van, and the homeless woman was very clear that the car was a van, Evans argued Monday.
Dressed in a gray suit with a white shirt and a yellow tie, Smith watched quietly and displayed little emotion during the closing arguments. During court breaks, and before he was led back to a holding cell by a sheriff’s deputy, Smith turned to smile at his wife, Teresa, and several other well-wishers who attended the trial, including two reverends from Smith’s Santa Monica church and several friends. On the other side of the courtroom was Nelson, her daughter, two employees and several other supporters.
Deliberation among the jury of 11 men and one woman was expected to resume this morning. In the first trial, jurors took less than two days before giving up on reaching a consensus. They split 7-5 in favor of Smith.
The case against Smith rests largely on the documents discovered inside the bombs. Santa Monica Police Department Sgt. Robert Almada said Smith, after being shown the documents, hung his head and said, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
Smith admitted he responded that way but said it was because Almada wrongly told him two firefighters were injured battling the blaze. Smith testified he was emotional about the firemen because an accidental house fire killed his stepmother and stepsister, and injured his stepfather. Smith never knew his biological father, and his biological mother died when he was very young.
Additionally, Evans pointed out that Smith offered to take a polygraph test while being interrogated at police headquarters by Almada in July of 2003, on the condition he be released if he passed the test. Almada refused to administer the test and said he couldn’t guarantee Smith’s release, videotapes of the interrogation show.
Teresa Smith, an attorney, last week testified she was with her husband all night the night of the fire. She said she would have known if her husband had left their Marina del Rey condominium because she was up several times during the night to breast feed the youngest of their three children.
Daly on Monday criticized the testimony of both Smiths by pointing out that Teresa Smith in the first trial testified that the night of the fire didn’t stand out in particular, but that her husband normally slept through the night with her. Daly also targeted Anthony Smith’s response after being asked under oath whether he was at home with his wife through the night on Feb. 13, 2003.
“Smith said, ‘More likely than not,’” Daly said. “Not, ‘Yes, I was there.’”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 14, 2004. Read the original PDF.