Defendants in separate Carbon cases receive state prison terms.
By Bob Laylo
The Morning Call
Copyright 2007 The Morning Call, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
CARBON COUNTY, Penn. — Two people who set their homes on fire with their children inside received state prison terms Monday in Carbon County Court.
Carbon County President Judge Roger N. Nanovic sentenced Ada M. Smith, 25, formerly of Summit Hill, to three to eight years in state prison. Then he sentenced Michael Feisel, 31, of Lansford, to two to four years in state prison.
Smith had given each of the two children five anti-depressant pills and took 10 herself before spilling fuel on a mattress in the second floor of the home at 202 E. Fell St., Summit Hill, and setting it on fire on Feb. 21, 2006.
Smith, who has been living in Tamaqua since the fire, tried to put it out and got the children out of the house before firefighters arrived.
After the fire, Smith told Summit Hill Patrolman Albert Bishline that she set the fire because she wanted to die and “take the kids with her” so they would not be left with her boyfriend, Gregory Pastore, 37. Pastore was sleeping on the first floor when the fire was started. He was not injured.
Smith pleaded guilty in October 2006 to arson, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of children.
Nanovic asked Smith why she started the fire.
“I really don’t know what I was thinking at the time,” Smith said.
Smith told Nanovic she’s getting help for mental health problems and alcohol abuse.
“I’m really sorry and I’m doing everything I can to better myself,” she said.
While relatives of Smith, including the father of the children, left the courtroom upset because they believed she should have gotten a longer sentence, Feisel’s family pushed for him to get less time.
“He needs help mentally,” said Amy Feisel, his wife of 11 years. “He doesn’t need prison.”
But Nanovic said Feisel needs to go to a state prison so he can get help for his mental health problems and to protect the public.
Attorney Tami Fees represented Feisel and Smith. She said Smith did not seek help for her problems before starting the fire, but Feisel’s family had him hospitalized in June 2006, two months before the fire.
She said he was released, then put back in the hospital for another four days.
“I’m sorry for what happened,” Feisel told Nanovic. “It wasn’t me that night.”
According to prosecutors, Feisel and his wife had been drinking the night of the fire, then they went to their 616 E. Patterson St. home and argued.
Feisel set his wife’s bed on fire as she and her three children slept, then went downstairs and sat, doing nothing to douse the flames. Feisel’s wife and the children, however, got safely out of the house .
In October 2006, Feisel pleaded guilty to arson and other charges.
As Nanovic sentenced him to prison, Feisel’s wife sobbed and shook. Nanovic said he understood the family’s feelings, but he had to balance a lot of issues, including the fact that a lot of people had been put in danger.
Nanovic said the county probation department had recommended a sentence of four to eight years in prison, but he cut it in half.
“I truly do hope you get the help you need,” Nanovic said.