SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) ? Opening statements began Monday in the trial of a man charged with murder and arson for allegedly setting a wildfire that destroyed 1,000 homes and, prosecutors say, triggered five fatal heart attacks nearly a decade ago.
Rickie Lee Fowler, 30, was brought into court in shackles before a bailiff unchained his ankles and wrists. Judge Michael A. Smith said Fowler had initially refused to come to court.
"This fire was deliberately set," Supervising Deputy District Attorney Robert Bulloch later told jurors. "It was set maliciously by this defendant, Rickie Fowler. He did it because he was angry. He did it because he was selfish. He did it because he wanted revenge."
The so-called Old Fire erupted in the foothills above San Bernardino in October 2003 and scorched 91,000 acres over nine days.
Fowler was a suspect almost after the fire began, when witnesses reported seeing a passenger in a white van tossing burning objects into dry brush. Investigators acting on a phone tip interviewed Fowler several months later but didn't have enough evidence to press charges until six years after the fire.
The charges at the time signaled a tough new standard for arson cases in a region beset by wildfires that sometimes lead to firefighter and civilian deaths. The Old Fire was one of many that raged simultaneously throughout Southern California that year, burning thousands of homes.
Fowler, who was serving time for burglary when he was charged in connection with the wildfire, has pleaded not guilty to the arson and murder counts. He has said in jailhouse interviews that he was badgered into confessing to starting the fire.
He denied that he was the man who got out of the van and tossed a lit road flare into the brush.
"The community wants to crucify someone. They're angry. I understand," he told the San Bernardino Sun. "I guess they're looking for justice, but get the right person. I had nothing to do with it. I really didn't."
The suspected driver of the van, Martin Valdez Jr., was later shot and killed in an unrelated incident in the town of Muscoy.
While in prison awaiting trial, Fowler was charged with sodomizing a jail inmate in an August 2010 attack. He was convicted in the case in February and sentenced to three 25-years-to-life prison terms.
In the fire case, Fowler is charged with five counts of murder and could face the death penalty if convicted. The jury had not yet entered the room when he arrived in shackles.
Defense attorney Michael Belter asked the judge to order the press to not publish photos of Fowler shackled to avoid tainting the jury. Smith said he could not order the press to withhold something it already had.
"If those are the photographs that are in the newspapers tomorrow, we're going to make a motion for a mistrial," Belter said.
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