Associated Press
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A judge's ruling has cleared the way for prosecutors to use a confession against a former commander of an elite wildfire team who is accused of setting two forest fires.
U.S. District Judge Paul Rosenblatt found that investigators hadn't coerced a confession out of Van Bateman and that they had given him opportunities to leave an interview, take breaks and not speak if he chose.
Bateman, who oversaw efforts to fight several major New Mexico fires, led the 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. He has pleaded not guilty.
Authorities say Bateman admitted intentionally starting two fires in 2004 in northern Arizona's Coconino National Forest that together burned nearly 22 acres.
His attorneys asked the judge to toss out the confession, arguing that it was coerced because Bateman thought he'd lose his job for not talking about the fires and because he was confined. Bateman retired from the U.S. Forest Service in December.
Bateman is scheduled to go on trial in November.
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