Attorneys will meet Feb. 22 to decide if case should be settled
or go to pretrial
Another pretrial conference for Margaret Pavese – the 51-year-old San Juan Bautista school teacher charged with starting the Lick fire – will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 22, said Supervising Deputy District Attorney Frank Carrubba.
After a Jan. 24 conference with Superior Court Judge Hector Ramon and Pavese’s private defense attorney, Carrubba said the case had been continued “for us to examine the exact amount of restitution” Pavese will owe.
In December, Pavese was charged her with failure to exercise reasonable care in the disposal of flammable materials – a misdemeanor that carries up to six months in prison and $1,000 in fines.
In addition, Pavese will likely face fines to reimburse CalFire for the $12.5-million price tag of fighting the fire, CalFire officials said.
About 10:30 a.m. Sept. 3, Pavese started the blaze when she left an illegal and poorly maintained burn barrel full of paper plates unattended for about three hours, district attorneys said.
The flames spread from the bottom of the burn barrel because grass had grown into it and the fire raged for the next eight days, charring 47,760 acres of Henry W. Coe State Park – or about one-third of the state’s second-largest park, according to CalFire.
The fire also destroyed four cabins and 11 outbuildings.
After the Jan. 24 conference, Carrubba said that both sides needed to compile more information in order to determine whether the case would reach a settlement or go to trial.
“This is the type of case that would benefit from a pretrial conference,” Carrubba said.
