2 who caused Bay State fire again face trial for 6 deaths

ELLSWORTH – A court decision Friday in Massachusetts renewed the legal woes of a woman who was adopted by a Maine family after she and her boyfriend sparked a warehouse fire two years ago in Worcester, Mass., which killed six firefighters.

Julie King, now 22, whose last name was Barnes when she and Thomas Levesque started the December 1999 warehouse blaze, again faces a charge of involuntary manslaughter after Massachusetts’ highest court reinstated the charges against her and her former boyfriend.

King and Levesque, who were homeless and living in the Worcester Cold Storage warehouse when the fire started, were indicted in February 2000 on involuntary manslaughter charges. Those charges were dismissed that September when Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Timothy Hillman decided prosecutors had not shown sufficient evidence.

Six firefighters lost their lives in the Dec. 3, 1999, blaze, which started when the couple allegedly knocked over a candle during an argument. The couple fled the building as the flames spread, but firefighters entered the burning building with the belief that homeless people might still be inside, according to officials.

Paul Brotheron, 41; Timothy Jackson, 51; Jeremiah Lucey, 38; James Lyons, 34; Joseph McGuirk, 36; and Thomas Spencer, 42, all died in the warehouse. Their memorial service in Worcester drew 40,000 people, including President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.

King and Levesque were arrested three days after the fire. But King later was released into the custody of Tim and Debb King of Ellsworth, who recognized her in television reports as the long-lost older sister of their adopted daughter Jennifer. The accused woman also was adopted by the Kings last summer and now works as a housekeeper at the Holiday Inn in Ellsworth.

King gave birth to her and Levesque’s son, Joshua, while she was awaiting trial on the involuntary manslaughter charges.

The Kings could not be contacted for comment Friday. The King family is visiting relatives out of state for the Easter holiday and is not expected to return to Ellsworth until Monday evening, according to Tim King’s administrative assistant. Tim King is Ellsworth’s city manager.

Louis Aloise, King’s Worcester, Mass., lawyer, said Friday that the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts ruled that certain aspects of the case should be decided at a jury trial rather than by a grand jury or a judge. The intent and conduct of the couple and the cause of the firefighters’ deaths are issues the court decided should be heard by a trial jury, according to Aloise.

“I’m disappointed in the decision,” Aloise said. “They’ve sent it back to the Superior Court to have it set up for trial.”

Aloise said his law partner has been in contact with Debb King about Friday’s ruling.

“I’m sure they’re disappointed,” Aloise said of the Kings. “Julie, who has done well since being released, now has to come back and face this case.”

The legal system mandates the trial process, Aloise said, but the effects of it likely will be difficult for everyone involved.

“It’s not going to be pleasant for the family of the firefighters, either,” he said.

Mollie Carter, King’s supervisor at the Holiday Inn, said King has become much more outgoing and enthusiastic since becoming a housekeeper at the hotel. She said King continually looked at the floor and never spoke to anyone when she first started working there.

“It’s unbelievable,” Carter said. “In the little over a year she’s been here, the difference is like night and day.” Carter declined to comment about the court ruling.

According to Levesque’s attorney, his client lives in Worcester and is unemployed.

Worcester County District Attorney John Conte did not return a phone call to his office Friday, but in a statement said the decision is “obviously significant” to the people whose lives were touched by the firefighters who died.

The court’s ruling that someone who creates “a grave risk of death or injury to others has a duty and obligation to alleviate the danger” is an important legal aspect of the decision, Conte said in the statement.

The court noted that the couple attempted to put out the fire and were unsuccessful, which demonstrated they knew the fire was spreading rapidly and that they watched the fire destroy their possessions quickly.

The court also noted they had a cell phone and that, after fleeing the warehouse, they passed several open stores from which they could have called for help, “thus allowing the grand jury to infer that the defendants had multiple opportunities and the means to call for help if they chose to do so,” the court wrote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.