Evidence battle in Dirksen fire case

Attorneys for the federal government and a U.S. Capitol Police officer charged with setting a fire in the Dirksen Senate Office Building battled Thursday over what evidence to admit in trial.

In hopes of proving his client’s innocence, Ronald Machen, the officer’s attorney, wants security videos relevant to more than a dozen other fires set in Senate office buildings over a period of several months last year admitted. Machen filed motions Thursday asking that the evidence be admitted.

{mosads}But Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Schmidt defended her position of objecting to the requested additional video footage.

“We’ve provided everything that is relevant,” said Schmidt, who also noted a plea offer had been dropped.

Capitol Police officer Karen Emory has pleaded not guilty to charges of setting the Nov. 2 Dirksen fire that U.S. authorities said occurred when rolls of toilet paper were ignited in a women’s bathroom stall. Prosecutors have introduced security videotapes that show Emory entering and exiting that restroom minutes before the fire was discovered.

Emory has not been charged with any of the other fires, and Machen hopes that the introduction of other videotaped evidence will suggest that if Emory did not set the earlier fires, she also did not set the Nov. 2 fire in Dirksen.

At Emory’s last hearing on Jan. 7, U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina instructed both prosecution and defense attorneys to reconcile their differences by coming to an agreement on permissible and relevant evidence. Urbina last month called the case “rather silly” and has tried to ensure it does not take a lot of the court’s time.

On Thursday, Urbina said he was concerned that the ongoing disagreement between attorneys over the evidence could lead to “two or three trials inside one trial.”

But more than one month later, the two are still at odds.

Even before the hearing Thursday, Machen and Schmidt could be heard arguing over what evidence could be included, with Machen saying at one point, “Why should I allow that?”

Machen on Thursday also objected to the prosecution’s admittance of a second roll of singed toilet paper linked to a fire that occurred directly after the Dirksen fire. The prosecution in motions has said the two rolls of toilet paper will link the two fires and prove Emory’s involvement was an act of arson and not an accident.

Prosecutors have not said whether they plan to charge Emory with any of the other fires, which remain under investigation.

Emory has been suspended with pay and if convicted could face up to one year in jail.

After the fire was discovered on Nov. 2, Emory was part of a group of Capitol Police officers ordered to inspect all remaining Senate office building bathrooms for evidence of additional fires, according to court documents. After checking a bathroom near the one where the initial fire occurred, Emory found similarly singed rolls of toilet paper and reported them to a fellow officer.

No matches, flammable liquids or other means of ignition were found in the bathroom.