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State v. Garrett12/1/2005
cal or other accidental cause of the fire. A kerosene heater found in the bedroom was not the cause of the fire. He discovered a saturation of kerosene in the kitchen. The utility room door was closed during the fire. Mr. Cooper testified that Otis Jenkins told him that he had "had to use two hands to slide the bolt on the latch to the other side to open the door."
Mr. Cooper testified that he collected material from beneath the baseboard in the front room because liquid spilled in the floor would typically run under a baseboard and because the flooring beneath the baseboard was free of foot traffic occurring during and after the firefight. Also, he found a "V" pattern on the baseboard, which to him was "like a red flag waving at you," indicating an accelerated fire. Mr. Cooper presented a number of pictures and slides of the fire scene. He opined, " his was a deliberately set fire, arson. Somebody went into the house, and their design, their intent, was to spread the fire from the front room to the back where the victim was."
Defense counsel engaged Mr. Cooper in a rigorous cross- examination, during which the witness testified that the kitchen floor contained " uite a bit of water," that a portion of the liquid on the bedspread was water, and that he relied upon Detective Miller's report of his interviews of the firefighters and did not interview them personally other than to talk with Otis Jenkins. Mr. Cooper did not see the house before the booster-hose cleansing and did not see the front- room furniture in its pre-fire position. He insisted, however, that the flooring in the front room evinced a "pour pattern," indicating that a liquid accelerant had been poured in the floor. He admitted that polyester from furniture could melt onto the floor and simulate a pour pattern but maintained that he could distinguish a pour pattern from a polyester meltdown. He admitted that one photograph showed that the latch bar was dark, as if it was coated in carbon, which might indicate that the bar was not inserted into the latch housing during the fire.
Fire investigator Kenneth Porter testified for the defendant. He arrived on the scene of the fire at 6:30 a.m. on February 24, 1992. He determined that the point of origin was in the floor at the front door and that the fire was started via a liquid accelerant. He opined that the pour pattern covered 60 or 75 percent of the front room floor. The bedspread was not mentioned in Mr. Porter's report. He testified that a smell of kerosene in the house could have emanated from the kerosene heater. He collected samples of soil beneath, and carpet from, the front room floor at the suspected point of origin, and he collected a wood sample from under the front door sill. He submitted these samples to the TBI but destroyed them when he retired from the fire marshall's office. He testified that as a means of enhancing his investigation, he had the front room furniture, which had been removed during the firefight, returned to its pre-fire position in the front room. He testified that radiant heat can sometimes simulate a pour pattern on a wood floor.
Ruby Alcorn, the wife of Michael Alcorn, testified that she was awakened on the morning of the fire by a commotion outside "like someone hollering." She did not hear an explosion. She looked outside and saw flames emanating from the front door and window of the house across the street. The defendant was standing by a tree, jumping up and down and screaming, "Lori." Ms. Alcorn yelled for her husband, who got up, donned his trousers, and ran across the street. Her son, Bobby, followed his father. On cross-examination, she testified that the defendant stayed in the Alcorn home during the day of the fire
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