A Superior Court judge on Monday pushed back the trial for the Anchorage couple accused of starting the destructive Sockeye Fire in 2015.
The trial for Greg Imig, 61, and Amy DeWitt, 43, had been scheduled to start Tuesday. But in the Palmer court on Monday, Imig's attorney, Kevin Fitzgerald, asked the judge to delay the trial until mid-January because Imig's father had suffered a "medical event." He said the family had decided to take Imig's father off life support and he was expected to die "in a matter of days, if not hours."
Assistant District Attorney Eric Senta, the prosecutor in the case, opposed the defense attorney's request and asked for a delay of only a week. He said Imig and DeWitt had "victimized pretty much the entire mushing community in Willow." Numerous mushers had planned to attend the trial this week, Senta said, and a date in January would interfere with the mushing season.
"It would be … significantly inconvenient if not dramatically injurious to these victims" to push the trial into January, Senta said.
Prosecutors say Imig and DeWitt started the Sockeye Fire when they burned a pile of debris in Willow on June 14, 2015, without clearing the area and without water on hand. They say the couple allowed the flames to escape into a forest before driving away in their motor home.
The flames spread, ripping through Willow and destroying more than 100 structures, including 55 homes. The fire charred thousands of acres of forest and killed pets, including some sled dogs. The fire cost more than $8 million to fight.
Imig and DeWitt are each charged with second-degree criminally negligent burning and three counts of reckless endangerment, as well as failure to obtain a burn permit, burning without clearing the area, allowing the fire to spread and leaving the fire unattended. All are misdemeanors.
The couple rejected a plea deal this summer.
On Monday, the couple called in to the status hearing, as did Fitzgerald and DeWitt's attorney, Philip Shanahan.
The Superior Court judge, Michael Spaan, said on Monday that he understood the complexity of moving the trial but "it's just a life-changing situation when you lose your father." He agreed to a postponement and set a pretrial conference for Dec. 15.
"It's important to get a fair trial for everybody," Spaan said.