EVERETT — A Snohomish man faces up to 8 1/2 years in prison for starting a fire at a Sultan home last year.
A jury deliberated for about two hours Wednesday before convicting Gary Westom of first-degree arson.
Westom, 32, was accused of throwing a homemade bomb at a porch filled with people, including children, according to court documents.
Investigators believe Westom was retaliating for a dispute earlier in the night at a different address. He threw the Molotov cocktail at another house in downtown Sultan, court papers said.
No one on the porch knew Westom or had been in a fight with him, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson wrote in court documents.
The flaming gas can hit the front steps of the porch and the fire quickly spread. Witnesses said flaming gas hit their clothing. A tenant doused the blaze with a fire extinguisher. No one was seriously injured.
Westom has six prior felony convictions and 37 misdemeanor convictions, according to court documents.
He is scheduled to be sentenced April 16.
Editor’s note: The headline over this article was corrected since it was first posted online.
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