By Meg Kinnard
The Associated Press
GREENVILLE, S.C. — An arsonist convicted of setting a hotel fire that killed six people escaped the death penalty Friday when a jury couldn’t agree on his punishment. The judge said he would sentence the man to life in prison without parole.
Eric Preston Hans, 37, was convicted last week of one federal count of arson resulting in death.
Prosecutors have said he set the blaze to get the attention of a dancer with whom he was obsessed. Hans maintained he was innocent throughout the trial, though his attorney, Rick Vieth, said during the sentencing hearing that Hans never intended for anyone to get hurt and wanted to rescue the dancer, Melba Lashawn Canty.
Instead, Canty, 21, and her 15-month-old son, Jaden, were among the six victims of the January 2004 fire at the Comfort Inn in Greenville. Several others were injured and some shattered windows and climbed down bed sheets in the freezing rain to escape the smoke and flames.
Hans spoke to jurors briefly before they began deliberating his sentence on Thursday.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, while I disagree with your verdict, I respect it,” he told them. “It was against my wishes to call witnesses in mitigation because I’ve maintained my innocence since day one.”
Jurors would not comment on the how the sentencing vote was split as they left court Friday except to say that more time would not have helped them reach a consensus.
Sheila Cromer, Jaden’s paternal grandmother, said the jurors should have kept deliberating.
“I just feel like Jaden didn’t have the chance to have a life, so (Hans) shouldn’t have the chance,” she said.
Canty’s mother, Dorothy Croskey, had testified on Hans’ behalf, saying her daughter and Hans had been friends.
The attorneys said they expect U.S. District Judge Henry M. Herlong to sentenced Hans in about a month. Until then, Hans will remain at the Spartanburg County jail, Vieth said. He said the sentence was the best his client could hope for.