Eagle—45 days in jail, $100,000 in restitution and 15-hundred hours of community service. That was the sentence handed down to the couple who started the devastating Lake Christine Wildfire last summer. 23 year old Allison Marcus and 24 year old Richard Miller agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge for starting the fire in exchange for having three felony counts of arson dropped. The two admitted to shooting illegal tracer rounds at the Basalt firing range on July 3rd long after stage two fire restrictions had been in place. The Lake Christine wildfire destroyed three homes and scorched over 12,500 acres. Miller prepared a written statement for the court that was read by his attorney Josh Maximom. In the statement he said, “I was negligent when I failed to look inside the ammunition cannister prior to going to the range and prior to Allison’s shooting of the rifle.” That was a huge mistake. If I had done so, I would have been able to identify the tracer round before the fire ever started.” Miller and Marcus will be sentenced July 1st.
