FILE PHOTO — Kristin H. Skiles makes her first appearance in Lewis County Superior Court on suspicion of first-degree arson for a house fire dating back to Dec. 20, 2015.
A former Morton woman accused of burning down her home in 2015 was sentenced Wednesday to spend nearly two years in prison.
Kristin H. Skiles, 39, was charged in March with one count of first-degree arson in reference to the December 2015 fire that destroyed the home where she lived in Morton.
She pleaded guilty in May to the charge and was sentenced Wednesday to 22 months in prison, in accordance with a plea agreement with the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office.
Deputy prosecutor Will Halstead said his office agreed to the recommendation due to Skiles’ lack of felony history, the fact that she took responsibility for the crime, and because of issues with the timeline of the arson that he said Skiles’ attorney, David Arcuri, would be able to use in her defense at trial.
In addition to the 22 months, Superior Court Judge Joely O’Rourke imposed 18 months of state Department of Corrections community custody after her release from prison.
According to court documents, police and fire crews responded Dec. 20, 2015 to a house fire in the 200 block of Third Street in Morton.
When police arrived, flames were coming out of the home’s upstairs window. Skiles, who escaped the house before police arrived, reported that she was doing her hair when she accidentally knocked over an ashtray with a lit cigarette, according to court documents.
However, through further investigation, detectives spoke with a witness who reported that Skiles was served an eviction notice from the executor of the estate that owned the house. The roommate reported that Skiles threatened to burn the house down, rather than let the estate’s executor take the home back, according to court documents.
The executor of the estate that owned the burned home did not attend Skiles sentencing hearing.
In January 2016, fire investigators reported that the fire was suspicious, but listed the official cause of the fire as “undetermined,” according to court documents. Investigators were unable to enter the burned portion of the house because of damage to the structure.
An investigation by the home’s insurance company concluded the fire had to have been started by a “handheld flame,” according to court documents, rather than a discarded cigarette.
Since the fire, Arcuri said his client has participated in inpatient rehab treatment. At the time charges were filed, she was living in a clean and sober home in Yakima and pursuing treatment pursuant to a Lewis County District Court case.
