Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of the Sockeye wildfire, which drove Willow residents from their homes and claimed 55 residences.
Defendants in a case now pending in state courts will face trial, according to the outcome of a pre-trial hearing held on Friday.
Attorneys for Greg Imig and Amy DeWitt say they will not accept a plea bargain offered by the state. Palmer district attorney Roman Kalytiak said two weeks ago that the state was attempting to negotiate to avoid a month long trial.
The state has charged Imig and DeWitt with criminally negligent burning and reckless endangerment, among other charges. All the charges against the couple are misdemeanors, and do not carry jail time.
DA Kalytiak said restitution for the fire is a sticking point in the plea deal. The state wants to go to trial by July, but attorneys for the defendants say they want to wait until October.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
