Staff Writer
A Mapleton woman was acquitted last week in Aroostook County Superior Court in Caribou after a six-day trial.
Jessica L. London, 27, was charged with starting a fire at the home of Bernard Estey Jr., her then husband, on Dec. 22, 2004. London, an emergency medical technician, and Estey, a Presque Isle firefighter, owned the home together, although she did not live there all the time, according to prosecutors. The verdict was reached on May 14 after the jury deliberated over two days.
“I am so relieved and elated that this nightmare is finally over,” said London in a statement released by her attorney, Alan Harding of Presque Isle.
The statement also said that the charges stemmed from a “personal vendetta” with the state Fire Marshall’s Office.
Assistant District Attorney Todd Collins said after the trial that he respected the decision of the jury, he disagreed with it.
“I felt we had sufficient evidence to substantiate our case,” Collins said.
During the trial, Collins said that London intentionally set the fire.
Estey, who lived at the house, got a fire going in the home’s wood boiler before he went to work that morning, according to Collins’ opening statement. Although he had lived there for eight months, it had been his childhood home as he was growing up. He had made various improvements to the home, including installing a pool, Collins outlined.
The morning of Dec. 22, he received a call from London and he asked her to check the wood fire. Later in the day, he heard over the radio that fire assistance is needed at his residence in Mapleton and he left work to attend to the fire.
Collins also cited the testimony of Ed Archer, an origin and cause expert with the state Fire Marshall’s Office, who concluded the fire was arson after examining the evidence in the basement. Used to start the fire were newspapers, charcoal lighter fluid and a multi-purpose lighters, investigators claimed.
London’s attorney, Harding of Presque Isle, reminded the jury that the state had to prove every element of the charge of arson, including whether his client “intended” to destroy the building and its contents by fire to collect insurance proceeds.
Harding questioned why London would want to destroy the home, which was decorated for Christmas and wrapped gifts were under the tree.
The attorney also suggested other possible causes, such as electrical or another heat source. Consruction materials used in the home’s renovation or a faulty lighter also could have caused a fire, Harding said.
Harding asserted that Archer, the state’s investigator, “rushed to judgment,” before eliminating other potential causes.
More than 40 witnesses were scheduled to testify during the trial, including a forensic fire consultant William McCarthy, who spoke on behalf of the defense. According to Harding, McCarthy’s testimony indicated that the fire started in the ceiling of the basement where wiring was never inspected by the state’s investigators.
McCarthy claimed that the pile of newspapers, which the state said was where the fire started, was actually a “secondary point of origin.”
