Jonathan Brown, right, listens to lawyers and the judge speak as he is sentenced in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The Centralia arsonist evaluated by psychiatrists at Western State Hospital after his arrest this spring for setting fire to his own house while his mother and grandfather were sleeping was previously diagnosed with pyromania.
Jonathan P. Brown, 26, spent time in prison after a string of fires in 2009 and will be spending many more years locked up after the March fire at the 3400 block of Prill Road.
The doctors didn’t find a reason to commit him to the mental hospital, according to Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead. They found he was competent to stand trial, Halstead said.
“They look for mental defects, not your love for watching fires,” Halstead said.
It was about 5:40 a.m. on March 23 when Deborah Brown woke up to a fire alarm, went into her son’s room and found burning pillows atop a large chair, according to charging documents.
She yelled for her son, she yelled for her father to wake up and tried to get a bowl of water from the kitchen tap, but found there was no water pressure, according to charging documents. She ran back to the bedroom, grabbed the pillows and managed to smother the flames, charging documents state.
She then woke up her father John Germeau who is hard of hearing and called 911.
Jonathan Brown was charged with two counts of attempted murder and instead of going to trial, he pleaded guilty in June.
Last week, Halstead asked a judge to give him 32 years, the high end of the standard sentencing range.
Defense attorney Don Blair asked for the low end, 20 years.
“Jonathan is 26; I would echo the statements of his mother,” Blair told the judge. “Last time he was in prison he didn’t get any counseling. He tried to get counseling.”
Brown’s mother wrote a letter to the judge ahead of the court hearing last Tuesday. She was in court, but didn’t want to make an oral statement.
Halstead recounted to Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt how the defendant soaked his bed and chair with lamp oil, opened the window so the smoke could escape and left, admitting he planned to start more fires that morning but didn’t because his lighter broke.
His grandfather never did wake up, until his mother woke him, Halstead said.
“Mr. Brown has demonstrated he’s not safe in the community,” Halstead said.
He was not charged with it, but Halstead told the judge he could also have proved Brown lit another fire the day before at an unoccupied house on Bengal Court, about a mile from his home. It burned the front door area and was investigated by Centralia police.
Before pronouncing the sentence, Judge Hunt wanted to know more about Brown’s mother trying to get water, but finding there was no water pressure.
“There was water,” Deborah Brown told the judge from her bench in the courtroom on Tuesday morning. “I was just hurrying and I couldn’t get it turned on.”
Jonathan Brown chose not make a statement on his own behalf.
His reason for starting the fire was not addressed during the hearing, but prosecutors wrote in charging documents, that when he was asked why, his answer was vague, but did relay he was upset with his mother over some personal issues.
Judge Hunt imposed a 32 year sentence and agreed to rescind the no contact order regarding his mother.
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For background, read “Prosecutors: Arsonist planned to continue lighting fires after leaving his burning bedroom” from Monday March 24, 2014, here