Tara Becker tbecker@qctimes.com
Updated 14 hrs ago
A Davenport man has been acquitted of second-degree arson and insurance fraud in connection with a house fire last year.
Scott County District Court Judge Thomas Reidel wrote in a 23-page decision filed on July 12 that prosecutors failed to prove that Ky Bao Lai, 44, set the fire at 917 E. 15th St., on March 7, 2015.
Lai was arrested in late April 2015 and charged with first- and second-degree arson and insurance fraud.
Prosecutors alleged that Lai, who had purchased the house to fix up and sell, placed a cardboard box on top of an electric stove top, turned on the burners and left the property. Prosecutors also alleged he caused a second fire later that day by pouring gasoline over a pile of combustible debris that was next to the stove and then turned the right rear burner on to the high setting, causing the debris to ignite, according to the documents.
Lai initially had a jury trial in April. After prosecutor’s presented their evidence, Reidel acquitted Lai on the first-degree arson charge. He later declared a mistrial after a defense witness violated a pretrial evidentiary order.
A bench trial was later held, with prosecutors and the defense agreeing that Reidel can consider prior arguments, testimony and admitted evidence from the prior trial.
In analyzing the evidence, Reidel wrote in his opinion that that prosecutors at trial failed to establish that Lai caused the fire or that he was motivated by profit to intentionally start the fire.
He wrote that he was not convinced that the cause of the fire was incendiary in nature, as was determined by fire investigators. He further wrote that there is circumstantial evidence that “should lead one to at least consider, if not conclude, that the fire could have also been accidentally caused.”