Butch’s Bar fire suspect’s trial in hands of jury
DOOR COUNTY, Wis. (WFRV) – The fate of the man accused of accidentally starting the fire above Butch’s Bar in Sturgeon Bay that killed two people and destroyed the building is now in the hands of a jury.
Anthony Gonzalez faces seven felony charges related to that February 2022 fire. The sixth day of his trial on Monday afternoon wrapped up with closing arguments from both the state and his defense attorney.
The jury began deliberating around 5:10 on Monday afternoon, but after about half an hour chose to pick it back up on Tuesday morning.
The state says that Gonzalez spilled butane on the mattress in his room and, despite not properly cleaning up, decided to light a cigarette which ignited the fire.
Heights Pub & Parlor opens under new ownership in downtown Green Bay
Gonzalez’s defense attorney argued that the building was a fire trap that allowed a small fire to become a deadly one.
“That fire if we had some prevention, making sure the building is up to code no matter what that might be I don’t think we would have had death and injury, we would have had property damage,” said defense attorney Aileen Henry.
She argued that it was unclear what officials had classified the residences above Butch’s Bar in terms of how they’d get zoned (apartment buildings, boarding homes, etc.). So, it was impossible to know if they met the fire code of any singular building classification.
She also said the investigation into the fire, its cause, and how it spread could have been more thorough.
The state disagreed saying there were no pending issues with the building.
“Do you know what was a fire trap, room number three because that morning Mr. Gonzalez turned it into a fire trap,” said district attorney Colleen Nordin, “The defense is attempting to, I would argue, move the blame from Mr. Gonzalez’s actions to somewhere else.”
The defense also argued that after lighting the fire, Gonzalez tried to do the right thing.
“He grabbed the fire extinguisher and he tried to put it out, when that didn’t work and he realized it had spread to the ceiling which was smoking, without any other extinguishing options he left his apartment and went to notify his neighbors of the fire,” said Henry.
Bond reduced and cocaine charge dismissed for Green Bay’s ‘Uncle Fester’
The state rejected this argument with an analogy.
“Text while you’re driving or play with your phone while you’re driving you know it’s dangerous, crash into another vehicle causing injury to the passengers, get out and render them aid, as long as you render them aid what you did wasn’t reckless,” said Nordin. “That’s not how it works.”
Gonzalez chose not to testify in his own defense during the trial.
“It is hard to understand a circumstance where somebody would do what Mr. Gonzalez did after all those opportunities to make a different choice that he didn’t take,” said Nordin.
“(One of the investigators) said that several aspects of this case left him with more questions than answers that for me amounts to reasonable doubt,” said Henry.
