Judge questions merit of Dirksen fire trial

The federal judge overseeing the trial of a U.S. Capitol Police officer charged with setting a fire in the Dirksen Senate Office Building questioned the cost and merit of the case on Monday, calling it “rather silly.”

U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo M. Urbina said it would cost taxpayers about $21,000 a day to bring the case to a trial, which is tentatively set to begin March 17.

{mosads}“To have a case around burnt toilet paper might be stretching it,” Urbina said at a status conference on the case. “It may not be the best use of the court’s time.”

Officer Karen E. Emory, who pleaded not guilty last month, is charged with setting a Nov. 2 fire in a Dirksen restroom. Emory, who has been with the Capitol Police since January 2003, has been suspended with pay and if convicted could face up to one year in jail.

Much of the case so far has centered on rolls of toilet paper. A filing from the U.S. states that the Nov. 2 fire occurred after rolls of toilet paper were ignited inside a stall in a women’s restroom. It said no matches, flammable liquids or other means of ignition were found.

On Jan. 3, the U.S. filed a notice of its intent to introduce as evidence a roll of singed toilet paper found in a restroom near the one where the Nov. 2 fire occurred. The notice states that Emory was the officer who found that roll of singed paper after Capitol Police were directed to check all restrooms in Senate office buildings for evidence of additional fires.

The notice also said a videotape shows Emory entering and leaving the restroom area where the Nov. 2 fire occurred only moments before it was discovered.

Separately, the U.S. has asked Emory to submit handwriting samples so that her writing can be compared to a handwritten prayer found on a roll of toilet paper found in another restroom shortly after the Nov. 2 fire. 

Emory’s attorney, Carlos Vanegas, said he is waiting to receive all the evidence from the Capitol Police, including photographs and video and radio recordings.

He also said he needed three to four more weeks to allow the investigations surrounding the other fires on Capitol Hill to wrap up, saying he was prepared to introduce evidence from these inquiries if it supported Emory’s innocence.

Capitol Police are investigating several suspicious fires set last fall, but Emory has been charged only in the Nov. 2 incident.

Urbina set a March 11 pretrial conference for the case, and a March 14 date for jury selection.