Sentencing of Corral Fire Suspect Is Delayed So Victims Can Testify

• ‘Follower’ Turns State’s Evidence against Two Others

BY HANS LAETZ

Some Malibu residents who lost their homes in the Corral Canyon fire last year want their day in court before the first of five suspects is sentenced on a plea bargain on Dec. 11.
Brian David Franks, 28, was scheduled to accept a plea bargain and be sentenced to probation last Monday. But prosecutor Ann Ambrose asked for a delay “because of the number of Malibu residents who want to speak to the court before that happens.”
California allows crime victims to testify at sentencing hearings, and some of the occupants of the 53 homes that were lost Nov. 24 have invoked that right. The fire caused at least $513 million in damage to private property as it roared down Corral Canyon from the top of the Santa Monica Mountains toward the coast.
In late September, prosecutors announced that Franks had turned state’s evidence and would plead guilty to one felony charge of recklessly causing a fire. Ambrose said the county would ask Judge Leslie Dunn to give the Los Angeles man five years probation and require the performance of 300 hours of community service.
By delaying Franks’ sentencing until Dec. 11, prosecutors will also get a chance to see him testify against his two former buddies, allegedly involved in drunken fireplay with burning logs at a clifftop cave during a roaring Santa Ana windstorm, in a state park that was signed with “No Open Fire” warnings, and during a state of emergency declared by the governor due to fires elsewhere in California.
Franks was part of a trio of Los Angeles men who allegedly stole firewood and bought liquor at the Malibu Ralph’s Supermarket, then drove to the “rave cave” at the top of the winding canyon road. ATM receipts and surveillance video reportedly links them to the purchase of items found at the fire’s ignition point.
There, the three reportedly accosted two Culver City men and their girlfriends, and scared them away from a small bonfire that the men had built in a cave.
Arson investigators charge that Franks and his friends, Brian Alan Anderson and William Thomas Coppock, stoked the small bonfire into a roaring blaze in the face of hurricane-force Santa Ana winds. Anderson and Coppock are alleged to have gotten drunk and kicked burning logs over a cliff, where they had sent Franks down to stomp on the embers.
Prosecutors have said that Franks is less culpable than Anderson and Coppock, because he was “a follower” and acting at the direction of the two other men.
Anderson and Coppock have a preliminary hearing set for Dec. 5 at 8:30 a.m. in Department 102 at the Van Nuys Courthouse, and Franks has been ordered to testify against them at that time.
The two Culver City men, Eric Matthew Ullman and Dean Allen Lavorante, are scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 11 at 8:30 a.m. in Department 100 at Van Nuys, at the same time Franks is slated to be sentenced in Department 102.
All four remaining defendants are charged with three felonies: recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury, recklessly causing fire to an inhabited structure, and arson during a state of emergency. Each count carries a posible sentence of between two-to-four years.
Some property owners who lost houses and belongings in the blaze have sued the state of California for failing to police the area and prevent frequent alcohol-laden partying from taking place.
One firefighter was injured in the blaze, which resulted in moves to consider evacuation of up to a third of Malibu during last year’s Thanksgiving weekend.