Judge won’t order trial of Caldor Fire suspects for recklessly starting fire, lawyers say

A judge on Friday refused to order the father and son duo charged with starting the 2021 Caldor Fire that destroyed Grizzly Flat and burned across three Northern California counties to face charges that they recklessly started the fire by target shooting.

El Dorado Superior Court Judge Vicki Ashworth ruled that the two men still must face trial on weapons charges, but said after a preliminary hearing that there was not enough evidence that suspects David and Shane Smith caused the fire by target shooting, the men’s lawyers said after court Friday.

“She found that there was insufficient evidence to show where the origin of the fire was, whether or not it was from a gunshot and that there was insufficient evidence to show even if it was from a gunshot that it was reckless,” Linda Parisi, defense attorney for David Smith, said.

Mark Reichel, attorney for Smith’s son, Shane, said the judge noted that the area where the fire began was a spot frequented by target shooters.

“She said that she believes there was shooting in that area, she believes that others were shooting that morning and the day before, and that it is an area people commonly shoot at,” Reichel said. “However, she says there’s no evidence we caused the fire.”

Both Parisi and Reichel had attacked the theory that the fire was sparked by the two men target practicing Aug. 14, 2021, in bone-dry conditions.

The lawyers had ridiculed the notion of gunfire sparking the fire since the hearing began in November, and had noted that the Smiths were the only people at the scene where the fire began who called 911 and warned nearby campers to get to safety.

“They did not attempt to hide their identity, they did nothing to hide the fact that they were at that location, and in fact repeatedly called law enforcement to advise them that there was a fire,” Parisi said when the hearing began in November. “And, in fact, they took the extra step of notifying the campers that were there. “There was nothing reckless in their behavior.”

The judge did hold the two men to face trial on weapons charges, David Smith on a charge of possession of a silencer and Shane Smith on possession of an illegal firearm, the lawyers said. Trial setting for those counts is set for Feb. 2.

But the main charges in the case were tossed out, they said, adding that both men had suffered from being suspected of starting the massive blaze.

“They are born and raised here, they planned to spend their life here, it’s all they have,” Reichel said. “They love it here. They were wrongly charged with the most heinous crime you could be charged with in their own home community.

“We can only hope that their reputation is restored as much as it was damaged by the improper charging of them.”

“It has been very difficult, what they have been through,” Parisi added. “It was a horrendous fire that affected the whole community. They have been vindicated that they did not act recklessly at all.”

El Dorado District Attorney Vern Pierson’s office said Friday it “put forth evidence that showed Travis Shane Smith and David Smith drove out to the location where the fire began and were shooting a firearm in the historically dry conditions that prevailed in Northern California at the time.”

“Given that charges are still pending, the District Attorney’s Office has no further comment at this time,” the D.A.’s Office said.

Reichel and Parisi are both veteran defense attorneys, and both said they had won at the preliminary hearing stage before in cases, but added that such rulings are rare.

“We don’t often win at preliminary hearings,” Parisi said. “You remember them, they are few and far between.”

The blaze began Aug. 14, 2021, at 6:54 p.m. east of Omo Ranch and south of the town of Grizzly Flat and quickly exploded.

The fire eventually burned 221,835 acres — about 362 square miles — and spread across El Dorado, Alpine and Amador counties. The fire forced the evacuation of South Lake Tahoe, and officials say 1,005 homes, businesses and other structures were destroyed and 21 people were injured.

Reichel and Parisi have argued that investigators were too quick to focus on the Smiths, and ignored the possibility that the blaze may have been started by someone else at the scene but that investigators did little to look into the possibility of their involvement.

One of the individuals the lawyers raised questions about was then-Pioneer Fire Chief Mark Matthews, who was one of the first people on the scene of the fire and later told The Bee that he waged a fierce fight to keep the blaze from spreading.

Matthews, who died of cancer last year, had come under investigation years earlier in connection with a series of grass fires in Arizona, where he was a firefighter, but never charged.

He previously told The Bee he had done nothing wrong in connection with the Arizona fires or the Caldor blaze, but Reichel has argued that investigators did not do enough to investigate whether he had any involvement in the Caldor Fire.

“The very limited investigation conducted into other viable suspects, including former Pioneer Fire Chief Matthews, showed enough evidence to charge each one of them; there’s more to those suspects than there are to our clients,” he said last month.