MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – A Willits woman was remanded Wednesday afternoon to serve 13 years in prison for torching her Brooktrails home with her quadriplegic son inside, and endangering the lives of local firefighters by using propane and oxygen tanks as accelerants.
Nancy Jo McGinty, 52, was sentenced to state prison by Judge Richard Henderson in Mendocino County Superior Court.
Last November, McGinty entered guilty pleas to felony charges of arson of an inhabitated building, and attempted voluntary manslaughter. Judge Henderson sentenced McGinty after a 10-day review of recommendations from the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office, the probation department and her attorney.
Eyster said after Wednesday's court hearing that he believes justice has been served in the high-profile case.
“While I won’t downplay the attempted taking of her son’s life, the defendant’s misconduct placed the entire community and its firefighters at great risk,” said Eyster.
As part of McGinty’s sentencing, she was ordered to reimburse the Brooktrails Fire Department for its costs incurred in the firefighting effort.
Henderson on Wednesday denied McGinty’s request for probation, citing the potentially fatal dangers her disabled son and firefighters faced because of her actions.
McGinty claimed she too was in the house when the fire broke out but firefighters said they scoured the home and didn’t find her until the next morning.
She was found the next morning unharmed in a master bedroom bathtub that had been checked the night before.
Addressing the court at the first half of the sentencing hearing that took place on March 16, 2012, McGinty tearfully asked for probation, citing the mental and physical exhaustion she claimed to have suffered being a sole care provider for her quadriplegic son.
Judge Henderson on Wednesday said he empathized with McGinty’s plight, but he said McGinty was deluding herself by thinking her actions were rationale.