Psychologist recommends no trial for Sleepy Hollow fire suspect

Dec. 02--WENATCHEE -- Jeremy J. Kendall, the man who admitted setting the destructive Sleepy Hollow Fire of 2015, likely will not face prosecution due to his persistent psychiatric disorder.

Eastern State Hospital physicians say Kendall, 38, remains not competent to stand trial due to a delusional disorder. He has largely been confined for mental health treatment and observation since his arrest last March, when he walked into the Chelan County Sheriff's Office and said he started the fire that consumed 30 Wenatchee homes on June 28, 2015.

Chelan County Prosecutor Douglas Shae charged Kendall with first-degree arson, but the suspect's delusional state has been so pronounced that he has not even faced arraignment -- a formal reading of the charge that must take place before a trial can proceed.

Chief public defender Keith Howard, who represents Kendall, said Thursday he expects the charge to be dismissed when Superior Court Judge Lesley Allan hears the case next week.

In an email Thursday to homeowners and property owners who suffered losses in the fire, Shae's office said Eastern State physicians recommended Kendall's case be dismissed. In a Nov. 30 report, according to the email, psychologist Brooke England wrote that Kendall "has had no change in his fixed delusions" and could not be restored to competency "within an acceptable time frame for court, if at all."

England's report also said Kendall poses no immediate threat to himself or others, and recommends he be assessed by a mental health professional before release under court supervision.

"I anticipate that her requirements in the report will be addressed," Shae said Friday.

Kendall could be freed as early as Wednesday, when Allan will consider the psychologist's report. His family could not be reached for comment Friday.

The Sleepy Hollow Fire erupted in dry grass along Sleepy Hollow Road and swept up into the Wenatchee foothills. There it destroyed 30 houses, most of them in the Broadview subdivision. Airborne cinders also ignited warehouses in the Miller Street industrial center, and fires there consumed millions of dollars in industrial property owned by Blue Bird, Northwest Wholesale, Michelsen Packaging Company and Stemilt Growers.

Investigators believed the fire to be human-caused, but had no solid leads until Kendall, a former fishing guide, arrived at the sheriff's office on March 24 and told deputies he ignited grasses with his Bic lighter in a pullout along Sleepy Hollow Road. In the same interview, deputies said, he complained of hearing voices in his head transmitted by the "Department of Health," which at times also assumed control of his body.

Police reports show Kendall had suffered extreme mental distress in the weeks before and after the fire. Two weeks prior, when a State Patrol trooper pulled him over for driving 108 mph on Highway 2/97 near Cashmere, Kendall told the trooper that "police are cyber attacking him." Three days after the fire, Kendall discharged three shots from a .38-caliber pistol inside his home. He was not harmed and was offered mental health counseling.

Scott Marboe, whose longtime family home on Maiden Lane was lost in the Sleepy Hollow blaze, said he received the prosecutor's email Thursday.

"I was disappointed, but I understand the process, and I can appreciate the legal system and the mental health procedures they go through," Marboe said. "I hope he gets the help that he needs. And you can't change what already happened anyway."

Shelley Jackson and her family have rebuilt their home on Valley Vue Road -- which they had to flee as the fire approached their back door. The decision not to prosecute stunned her.

"I am floored by it, honestly," Jackson said. "I don't get it. I don't know if that's the politically correct feeling to have on it, but this person has changed my life in such a way."

She went on, "He gets to go free. Yet we're not free, because we're still fighting insurance and everything."

Kendall was initially held in the Chelan County Regional Justice Center. Mental health providers said he was suffering from a delusional disorder, and Allan ruled in April that he was not competent to assist in his own trial and ordered him into psychiatric treatment. He has remained at Eastern State since May 4.

While there, he refused most psychotropic drugs recommended by his care workers. Allan signed an order in August allowing physicians to medicate him against his will, if necessary.

Jackson said she and many other fire victims had hoped Kendall's case would go to trial, and the facts behind the fire's origin would be laid out.

"Maybe that's what we all needed," she said. "We needed answers. And maybe that's a door that's closed."

Reach Jefferson Robbins at 509-664-7123 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @JRobbinsWW.

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