The second trial has begun in Marin County Superior Court for a man charged with aggravated arson for a wildfire in Northern California.
Devin Lamar Johnson, 23, allegedly set the so-called Hopkins fire, which burned about 50 structures and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents from an area just north of Ukiah in September 2021.
The first trial started in Mendocino County last year, but soon after jury selection began, Judge Keith Faulder approved a change of venue. The trial was moved to Marin County.
A mistrial was declared on May 30 because of a deadlocked jury. The second trial began Wednesday. Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster is the prosecutor.
“Eyster began by saying that a miracle occurred on Sept. 19, 2021 — a miracle because no one was injured or killed when 30 homes were destroyed,” said Ukiah resident Erin Gardiner, who has attended both trials.
Gardiner’s husband, freelance photographer Peter Armstrong, has been called to testify each time about a photo he took the day of the fire. Authorities allege it shows Johnson standing on the Moore Street Bridge watching the fire rage through the town of Calpella.
While the flames did not cause any deaths or physical injuries, many of the victims suffered devastating losses that they are still struggling to recover from.
“Nothing can replace what I lost that day,” Steve Schwartz wrote in an email after the first jury deadlocked. “I lost 50 years of my life because I had stuff from when I was born and it will never be replaced.”
“I am thankful that I am still alive and that everyone else is alive, too,” he wrote.
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Johnson was arrested two days after allegedly starting the Hopkins Fire on Sept. 19, 2021. Investigators from multiple agencies, including the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, Cal Fire and the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority, had obtained surveillance footage from a nearby business that showed a man starting the fire on Hopkins Street near the Moore Street Bridge.
According to the sheriff’s office, Johnson was on “active, felony probation for an attempted robbery charge” at the time of his arson arrest, and was booked into Mendocino County Jail on suspicion of “three separate charges of arson: aggravated arson (multiple structures), arson of an inhabited structure, and arson during a state of emergency.”
Johnson is in custody at the Marin County Jail.
Authorities allege this photo documents arson suspect Devin Johnson watching the Hopkins fire from the Moore Street Bridge in Calpella in 2021. (File photo by Peter Armstrong)
