Suspect in arson gets prison time

Hungry Horse News

The man accused of setting fire to the Lion Hill Baptist Church and a car in Martin City last March will spend two more years in jail.

District Court Judge Ted Lympus sentenced Joshua Shane Henderson on April 7 to 20 years in prison with a parole restriction for felony arson. Lympus suspended 17 years and gave Henderson credit for the 359 days he has already spent in jail.

Lympus also ordered Henderson to pay $1,500 in restitution to Martin City resident Sandra Chopper for the 1978 automobile that was set on fire the same night the church burned.

Henderson also must pay a $500 fine, $500 in court costs and an undetermined amount of restitution to the Lion Hill Baptist Church.

Lympus also gave Henderson a 10-year suspended sentence for setting Chopper's car on fire. The criminal mischief sentence is to run concurrently with the church arson sentence.

Henderson entered an Alford plea Feb. 3 on two of the three charges he originally faced, thereby admitting sufficient evidence existed to make a conviction, but maintaining his claim to innocence.

Henderson has been in the Flathead County Detention Center ever since he was brought back to Montana from Benton County, Wash., where he allegedly confessed to the Martin City crimes.

Henderson allegedly told Benton County Det. Larry Smith that he set fire to Chopper's car after stealing a blanket from it. He allegedly said he broke into the church, lit a piece of paper on fire for illumination and dropped it on the floor.

As the fire spread, he broke the window in a nearby display case and stole some items, which he hid outside the church, Henderson told the Benton County officer. Henderson claimed he returned to the church, but the fire was out of control by then.

The Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula later determined there was no evidence of an "accelerant" being used, contrary to earlier allegations in court documents.