By AMANDA LEE MYERS
The Associated Press
PRESCOTT, Ariz. — The attorney for the former commander of an elite wildfire team accused of setting two forest fires asked a federal judge Thursday to toss his client’s confession made to federal investigators.
Attorney Grant Woods argued investigators coerced his client into admitting he intentionally started two fires in 2004 at the Coconino National Forest that together burned nearly 22 acres.
Investigators questioned Van Bateman in October about the wildfires. Agents say they told Bateman, who did not have an attorney at the interview, that he could leave at any time and could refuse to answer questions.
“In my mind, I had no option but to answer the questions put before me,” Bateman told U.S. District Judge Paul Rosenblatt in court Thursday. “I felt that if I didn’t answer, they would hold it against me.”
Bateman said he feared he would be fired from his job as fire management officer at the forest’s Mogollon Ranger District and would lose the retirement benefits he had accrued in 34 years with the Forest Service.
“Without my retirement, we would have been bankrupted,” Bateman testified.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Hare said Bateman’s confession was voluntary and is admissible because the firefighter had signed an additional statement that he had not been coerced. She added investigators gave him a chance to change or correct anything before he signed the statement.
One of the documents Bateman signed stated both that he had the right to remain silent and that remaining silent could be used against him in an administrative proceeding, Grant said.
Hare said the document did say that, but noted it also stated that Bateman could not be fired solely based on his silence.
Bateman led the fire team that battled the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski fire, the largest in Arizona’s recorded history. He also assisted in recovery operations at the World Trade Center following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
He faces two federal counts of setting timber afire and two counts of arson on public lands. Setting timber afire carries a maximum prison sentence of five years, while arson is punishable by up to 20 years.
The judge said he would issue a written opinion on the whether the statements are admissible sometime after June 23. Bateman’s trial is scheduled for July 27.