Arsonist is found guilty again

Published 10:58 pm Wednesday, August 29, 2007

A man with seven prior arson convictions was convicted by a Snohomish County Superior Court jury on Wednesday of setting a recycling bin on fire May 4.

Judge Ronald Castleberry set Wednesday as the sentencing day for Ian Conrad Smith, 41, of Snohomish.

Smith was convicted of second-degree reckless burning after a two-day trial. A jury took most of one day to deliberate the case.

Public defender Peter Isbister argued that the prosecutor had not proven Smith was the person who set fire to the recycling bin. There were other fires, too in dumpsters in an alley in the vicinity of the 5300 block of Evergreen Way although Smith was not charged.

Isbister brought in a fire investigation expert who testified that the police and fire investigation of the case was incomplete.

Investigators found a book of matches in the recycling bin after the fire was extinguished. No buildings were damaged.

Smith went to prison in 2001 after being convicted in Spokane County of two counts of first-degree arson and five counts of second-degree arson, according to court records.

In the Everett case, deputy prosecutor John Stansell argued that the evidence pointed directly at Smith, who was seen walking out from behind the recycling bin by an Everett police officer about 2 a.m.

Not long afterward, a series of dumpster and bin fires was reported in the alley. Police arrested Smith nearby.

According to court documents, Smith told police he had been in another location when the fires started, but that was disputed by the officer who said he spotted the defendant near the recycling bin.

Smith could be sentenced to as much a year in jail.

Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or jhaley@heraldnet.com.