A man's desire to get revenge on his Kennewick landlords left his neighbors struggling financially and landed him in prison.
Leonardo Daniel Martinez, 32, angrily lit his mattress on fire on May 27, 2022 after being told he was going to be evicted from his apartment.
The arson left two families living in hotels, and nearly cost them their lives, according to letters written to the judge as part of Martinez's sentencing.
"In the end, we didn't just lose our home, we lost our jobs and we lost some hope for a while," Ruby Bowman wrote,
More than two years after the fire, Martinez pleaded guilty to first-degree arson in Benton County Superior Court.
Martinez chose not to say anything, but his attorney Karla Kane said he was not in his right mind because of his drug issue.
"He's very committed to taking responsibility and doing his time," she said. "He has committed to doing better and bettering himself."
Kane and Deputy Prosecutor Julie Long asked for the maximum sentence of seven years and five months in prison. Long called the crime very startling.
Several people were woken in the middle of the night and had to struggle to escape, she said.
"It's just nonsensical," she said. "He deserves the maximum penalty."
Judge David Petersen followed the recommendation, saying Martinez caused a lot of trauma, especially on the children who were trapped by the fire.
"You caused grief long beyond your time on the planet," he said. "The reality is that you almost killed people. Your life is done and over and gone, if they had died."
Trapped by fire
Martinez told his neighbors at the Cambridge Station Apartments that he planned to burn down his apartment after getting an eviction notice.
One of his neighbors was sitting in a car with his girlfriend when he saw Martinez pull into the parking lot about 3 a.m. and go into his apartment. About five to 10 minutes later, he heard a beeping noise and then saw smoke coming out of Martinez's doorway, court documents said.
Ruby Bowman said she was in a deep sleep when she and her husband were suddenly woken up.
"Me and my husband had no time to contemplate how to save our lives," she wrote to the judge. "Flames (were) coming in through the seams of the door frame."
The couple, along with their 9-month old daughter and 4-year-old son were able to get onto the balcony, where they were screaming for help.
For several harrowing minutes, they tried to get the attention of people below before a neighbor alerted police and firefighters they were still on the balcony.
"Standing there watching our life we had just built from scratch almost burn down to ash is something I don't wish on anyone," she said.
Along with losing clothes and furniture, she also lost family heirlooms from her mother. She's also feels anxious if she doesn't have an escape plan for any enclosed space.
"I have to know of some sort of escape route/emergency exit just so I feel safe in any building," she said. "It's been a hard two years."
Another neighbor told the judge that she and her fiance were left homeless for months while they waited for a new apartment.
Apartment eviction notice
As police investigated they learned that Martinez was supposed to have left the apartment before the day of the fire. They had prepared to change the locks on May 26, but a staffing shortage forced them to delay the change.
The woman he had been living with had moved out and into a domestic violence shelter, court documents said.
Investigators found several lighters, a butane can and what appeared to be a torch lighter in the bed. They also discovered the smoke alarm had been damaged.
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