The Los Gatos contractor accused of starting last spring’s
Summit Fire declared a well-known Santa Clara criminal defense
lawyer as his attorney. Channing Verden did not, however, enter a
plea to the felony count that could land him in prison for seven
years.
The Los Gatos contractor accused of starting last spring’s Summit Fire declared a well-known Santa Clara criminal defense lawyer as his attorney.
Channing Verden did not, however, enter a plea to the felony count that could land him in prison for seven years.
Verden, 51, and a small crew were hired for $18,000 to clear a property on the 31000 block of Summit Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains west of Gilroy last spring, according to a statement released by the District Attorney’s Office. Cal Fire officials pinpointed a burn pile on the property – owned by Andrew Napell – as the origin of the fire, which raged for a week last May, wiping out 4,270 acres and razing 132 structures. Several piles of smoking debris dotted the property when the fire sparked up, one of which measured 1,022 degrees – an indication that “there was no effort to extinguish the piles with water prior to any work crews leaving the job site over four weeks ago,” according to a statement by Katherine Price, a Cal Fire officer who determined the cause of the fire to be blowing embers from the debris. Fighting the fire cost more than $12 million.
Though he has not officially entered a plea, Verden told the Dispatch last month that he’s innocent. Still recovering from the Lexington Wildfire that burned his home in the mid-1980s, Verden said he’s the last person to set a wildfire.
“I know what it’s like to lose everything,” he said. “I almost lost my life.”
Neither Verden nor his attorney, Dennis Lempert – who is a former senior deputy district attorney with nearly 40 years of experience, according to Lempert’s Web site – could be reached for comment. Last month, Verden said he was worried how he was going to pay for an attorney.
“I’m a poor person,” he said following his arraignment. “I had a friend who is an attorney stand up for me to get a little more time to get financing for an attorney. Otherwise, I’ll have to get a public defender.”
Last month, Verden said he was having difficulty making the connection between the time when he stopped working at the Summit Road property in early April due to an equipment failure and when the fire sparked up in late May. When he left, the smoldering piles had been extinguished, he said.
According to a statement, the District Attorney’s did not specify whether or how the debris piles had been burning continuously from the time Verden’s crew left in early April to May 22, when the Summit Fire ignited.
“I don’t know what transpired after I left there,” Verden said after his arrest. “I don’t think the district attorney knows either.”
Verden is currently out of custody – released on his own recognizance soon after his arrest – and is scheduled to enter a plea 9:30 a.m. June 11 in Department 23 of the Hall of Justice in San Jose.
