Trial due for man in Heber hotel fire

Fourth District Judge Donald Eyre said there is sufficient evidence to put Mazhar Tabesh on trial after his own hotel was set afire in Heber City, according to a memorandum decision from the judge.

Tabesh, a Pakistani Muslim, had said someone else set fire to the Alpine Lodge July 21, 2002, and characterized this as a "hate crime."

However in a document filed in court Wednesday, the judge bound Tabesh over for trial. Eyre heard evidence at an April 2 preliminary hearing and also read a memorandum, interview transcripts and a motion from defense attorney Ron Yengich.

Tabesh is charged with first-degree felony aggravated arson. He will be arraigned May 23.

Eyre wrote that the court is bound to follow the standard of proof articulated by the Utah Supreme Court in a previous case with the district court "viewing all evidence in light most favorable to the prosecution and resolving all inferences in favor of the prosecution."

Eyre further wrote: "The crime of aggravated arson was clearly established by evidence presented at the preliminary hearing. Further, there was sufficient circumstantial evidence linking the defendant, Mazhar Tabesh, to the commission of the crime."

Eyre listed six pieces of circumstantial evidence that persuaded him:

• Tabesh's proximity to the origin of the fire.

• His fingerprints on objects in the room that first began burning.

• Frantic shouts by Tabesh's wife that he might be inside.

• An "unusual illegible registration form" for the person whom Tabesh said had rented the room.

• The fact that smoke detectors in nearby rooms had been tampered with and Tabesh had keys to those rooms.

• Financial problems associated with the hotel and the fact that Tabesh would have benefitted from the fire because of insurance.

At the preliminary hearing, Yengich, in questioning witnesses, elicited information that indicated Tabesh didn't smell like gasoline that night, had another job at Wells Fargo Bank and might well have been using the money-losing hotel as a tax writeoff, and that not enough effort was made to find the man Tabesh said had rented the room that first caught fire.

Investigators found two fires, one in the closet of the room in question and another in a second-story hallway. The blaze caused about $100,000 in damage.

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E-mail: lindat@desnews.com