Seattle Lawyer Who Allegedly Threatened to Kill Judge to Get 20 Months in Subsequent Home-Arson Case
A Washington attorney literally acting as his own jailhouse lawyer has struck a deal with prosecutors after allegedly setting fire to his own home earlier this year and violating a protective order concerning his estranged wife, a co-owner of the home who wasn’t present at the time of the fire.
Attorney John C. Siegel will enter an Alford plea, in exchange for a government recommendation of two concurrent sentences of 20 months and 17 months in the arson and domestic violence cases, according to the Daily Weekly page of the Seattle Weekly.
The article was prompted by a post on the West Seattle Blog, which includes additional details and an apparent photo of the June 2011 fire at Siegel’s home.
Siegel previously spent a couple of months in jail earlier this year, after being charged with felony harassment for allegedly threatening to kill Seattle Municipal Court Judge Kimi Kondo. Also representing himself pro se, he bargained that case down to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to a suspended 12-month jail sentence and two years of probation, the Daily Weekly recounts.
Within weeks, he was back in jail after allegedly setting fire to his home.
A civil suit Siegel filed against the Weekly concerning its reporting about him was dropped several months ago.
Siegel is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 9 in the King County Superior Court case.
