Jury finds Sedgwick woman guilty of arson, burglary

ELLSWORTH – A jury took about an hour Tuesday to find a woman guilty of setting fire last fall to a Sedgwick home she once shared with an ex-boyfriend.

Amber Yurchick, 19, of Sedgwick was ordered by Hancock County Superior Court Justice Kevin Cuddy to be held without bail until her sentencing, which is expected to take place Thursday.

“I’m at the stage where very little surprises me, but I thought there was reasonable doubt in this case,” Yurchick’s attorney Steven Juskewitch of Ellsworth said after the verdict.

In addition to a guilty verdict for a charge of Class A arson, Yurchick also was found guilty of burglary, terrorizing, assault and criminal trespass. The woman could face up to 30 years in prison on the arson charge alone.

Hancock County Deputy District Attorney Carletta Bassano said Tuesday that the jury’s decision was the right one.

“The jury followed the evidence. Whether I’m pleased is not really the point,” she said.

Most of the testimony in the trial was heard Monday when Bassano called several witnesses to the stand to talk about the events of Oct. 1, 2006. That night ended with a house on the Old County Road in Sedgwick burning to the ground and the State Fire Marshal’s Office concluding that the blaze was intentionally set.

The state’s witnesses, who included Yurchick’s ex-boyfriend and others who were at the house the night of the fire, said Yurchick apparently became jealous because her ex-boyfriend, Michael Laferriere, had guests at the house, including a new female acquaintance.

Late Monday afternoon, Juskewitch called his client to the stand, who told the jury that it was her brother, Michael Yurchick, 33, of Sedgwick, who set the fire.

Michael Yurchick had been charged with arson until late last week when he accepted an open plea so that he could testify against his sister. Although he admitted he went with his sister to the house on Old County Road in Sedgwick, Michael Yurchick testified Monday that he had nothing to do with the fire.

In her closing statement Tuesday morning, Bassano reminded jurors of the evidence, which was mostly circumstantial rather than direct.

Juskewitch said his client claimed she witnessed her brother start the fire but didn’t want to hand him over to authorities by revealing that fact.

“Obviously, the family is upset because they either know or strongly believe that Michael [Yurchick] started the fire,” Juskewitch said.

Bassano told jurors to keep in mind that the fire’s origin was the very bed that Amber Yurchick once shared with Laferriere.

Michael Yurchick, who agreed to an open plea last Friday, will be sentenced today on a single charge of burglary related to the Oct. 1 incident.

The arson charge has been dropped, Bassano said.