EVERETT — James White smiled as a Snohomish County Superior Court judge warned him to stay away from his neighbors.
Judge Janice Ellis was telling White, 44, that the fire he started could have been deadly and she believed he was a risk to the community.
“I see you smiling. What is amusing?” Ellis asked late last week.
White told the judge she didn’t know the whole story. Ellis reminded White that she’d given him chance to speak before she sentenced him to 17 months in prison.
“I didn’t start this,” White said.
Ellis told the Snohomish man that if he had a dispute with his neighbors, there were other ways to resolve it besides arson.
“If you have a conflict with people, bring it to this courthouse,” Ellis said.
She ordered White not to have any contact with his neighbors for 10 years. White can ask a judge to revisit the order if he ends up returning to the same mobile home park, Ellis said.
Earlier this month White pleaded guilty to second-degree arson. He was ordered to undergo an evaluation for drug addiction.
Court papers say White was on a four-day methamphetamine binge July 18 when he set a rolled up newspaper ablaze and dropped it outside his neighbors’ door.
The couple was home at the time. The husband, who was in the backyard, smelled smoke, discovered the burning paper and put it out with a garden hose.
The man confronted White, who made nonsensical statements, pushed him and walked off before barricading himself in a shed behind his trailer.
White told approaching deputies that he had a bomb. He was holding a large Japanese-style sword. White’s mother told police her son didn’t have a bomb and he’d been using meth.
White yelled that he wasn’t coming out until he’d done all his drugs and drank all his alcohol.
Hostage negotiators and a police dog responded to the mobile home park. A deputy fired a rubber bullet at White, hitting him in the chest and causing him to drop the sword. A police dog was sent into the shed and bit White’s leg. Deputies followed and took him into custody.
At the time of his arrest, White was under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections for an assault conviction. He has extensive criminal history, including 40 misdemeanor convictions dating back to 1987.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
