Jury Begins Hearing Sanity Phase of Trial for Serial West Hollywood Arsonist

LOS ANGELES, CA — The attorney for a German national convicted of setting more than 40 fires in less than a week in the Southland told jurors Tuesday that the evidence will show his client was legally insane at the time, but a prosecutor countered that the defendant knew what he was doing was wrong.

The six-man, six-woman panel — which convicted Harry Burkhart of 49 felony counts last Thursday — is being asked to determine if he was sane or insane when he set the blazes in late December 2011 and early January 2012 in Hollywood, West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley.

In his opening statement in the trial's sanity phase, defense attorney Steve Schoenfield told jurors that a series of medical records show his 29-year- old client is developmentally disabled and "severely mentally ill."

Burkhart was in a psychiatric hospital four months before the series of fires, and is still being treated with anti-psychotic medications more than four years after his arrest, according to his attorney.

"Basically a perfect storm of factors developed ... The separation of Harry from his mother made Harry very angry," Schoenfield said, referring to the arrest of Burkhart's mother, Dorothee, in the United States in late December 2011 in connection with a criminal case against her in Germany.

"In Harry's delusional mind, separation from his mother meant the whole world would come to an end ... Harry acted out in an irrational and horribly destructive way," Schoenfield said.

Deputy District Attorney Sean Carney countered that the answer to whether Burkhart was sane or insane comes by evaluating when the crimes were committed — in the dark of night.

The prosecutor told jurors that Burkhart was able to drive around the Southland for several days on his own, pick out "targets of opportunity," change locations of where the fires were being set and conceal evidence.

"He's a man on a mission," Carney told jurors. "It's evidence that he knew what he was doing at the time ... He knows right from wrong."

Burkhart set the series of fires because he was "angry" about his mother's arrest, and then claimed to be mentally ill and autistic after he was arrested, the prosecutor said.

"He doesn't just snap. He doesn't target the federal court. He doesn't target the police," the prosecutor said of the series of fires, which were started under parked vehicles. "He knew right from wrong."

Burkhart pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with the crimes, which occurred between Dec. 30, 2011, and Jan. 2, 2012, with a one-day break on New Year's Day, when no fires were set.

Jurors deliberated about a day before convicting Burkhart of 25 counts of arson of property, 18 counts of arson of an inhabited dwelling and two counts each of possession of an incendiary device, attempted arson and arson of a structure.

Most of the blazes were started under vehicles parked in carports or near homes, but one vehicle was set on fire Dec. 30 in the parking lot of a shopping center in Hollywood and another at a complex nearby on New Year's Eve.

The defense has the burden of proof in the sanity phase of trial, with jurors being asked to determine if there is a preponderance of the evidence — rather than the greater standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt required in the guilt phase of the trial — to show that he was legally insane when he committed the crimes.

Richard Romanoff, a forensic psychologist who was hired on behalf of the defense and met seven times with Burkhart, testified that he came away "thinking something is wrong with this person" after first meeting with him four days after his arrest.

The forensic psychologist said he reviewed records for Burkhart dating back as far as two decades and met with the defendant's mother, whom he said he concluded was "off the charts different" and "probably the single most intense person I ever met."

The records included documentation of behavior that was "classically consistent with autism spectrum disorder" and a letter from Burkhart's mother in which she describes him as being "tortured" at school before she eventually pulled him out of school altogether, he told jurors.

"I certainly experienced Harry in many ways as childlike ... There were many ways in which he came across as a little child," Romanoff said, noting that Burkhart had an "overwhelming preoccupation" with his mother and had no contact with his biological father.

Burkhart — who listens to the proceedings through a German interpreter — has repeatedly objected outside the jury's presence to how his trial is progressing. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli has told Burkhart on several occasions that he will have the right to appeal his conviction.

Burkhart has remained jailed since his arrest, and could face nearly 89 years in state prison if jurors find that he was sane at the time of the crimes.

— City News Service. Patch file photo