U.S. asks for cop’s handwriting in Dirksen fire case

The Capitol Police officer charged with setting a fire in a Senate office building’s restroom has been ordered to submit handwriting for comparison with evidence collected shortly after the fire’s discovery.

The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia asked for the handwriting sample to compare it with a prayer written on a roll of toilet paper that was found shortly after the discovery of the Nov. 2 fire in a women’s restroom in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

{mosads}The prayer-laden toilet paper was found after police were directed to check all restrooms in the Senate office buildings for evidence of additional fires, according to a motion from the U.S. attorney’s office. It did not specify from which restroom or office building the evidence was obtained.

U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina ordered Capitol Police officer Karen Emory to submit to the “taking of handwriting exemplars” by a Capitol Police criminal investigation division officer “at any reasonable time” and place designated by the officer.

A status conference on the Emory case is scheduled for Jan. 7. Emory pleaded not guilty during a Dec. 17 court appearance and faces up to a year in jail.

The Nov. 2 incident followed a series of suspicious fires in Senate office buildings, but Emory has been charged only in the single fire. No injuries were reported in any of the fires, although an Oct. 31 incident led to the evacuations of the Hart and Dirksen buildings.