The owner of an aging Hollywood hotel was convicted Tuesday of conspiracy and insurance fraud in connection with a 2001 fire that killed two people, but jurors deadlocked on the more serious counts of murder and arson.
Prosecutors said Juan Ortiz conspired with his brother Arturo Ortiz to burn down the Palomar Hotel on Aug. 16, 2001, rather than spend hundreds of thousands of dollars fixing numerous building and safety code violations.
Arturo Ortiz, who was the 76-year-old building’s resident manager, died in the fire. Authorities determined the blaze was started with gasoline, and Ortiz’s body was found near the ignition point.
Hotel tenant Norma Galindo fell to her death from the hotel’s fourth floor moments after passing her two children safely to firefighters in a scene captured by television news cameras. Four firefighters and two children were injured.
Superior Court Judge Bob Bowers Jr. declared a mistrial on nine of 11 counts after jurors said they could not reach verdicts on them. District Attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said the panel deadlocked on one count of murder, six counts of arson with great bodily injury, one count of arson of an inhabited dwelling and one count of insurance fraud.
Attorneys were to return to court Wednesday to set a date for a new trial on those charges.
Deputy District Attorney Jean Daly told jurors in her closing argument that Ortiz had the “sole motive for setting this fire” and that he had enlisted his brother’s help.
“He was a bad torch, plain and simple,” she said of Ortiz’s brother.
Defense attorney Charles Linder put the blame for the fire on Ortiz’s brother, calling him the “black sheep of the family.”
“This was an investigation and prosecution that was driven by a need to prosecute Juan Ortiz,” Linder said. “Why? Because Arturo Ortiz is dead.”
Ortiz, who testified in his defense, denied any involvement in the fire.
“Owning that hotel was a dream to me,” he said.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not ebe published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Beryl’s Remnants Spawned 4 Indiana Tornadoes, Including an EF-3: NWS 
Marsh McLennan Agency to Acquire The Horton Group 
US P/C Underwriting Results: Two Years in a Row Over $20 Billion in the Red 
The Battle Over J&J’s Bankruptcy Plan to End Talc Lawsuits 
