A felony trial is underway for a judge to decide the fate of alleged Dolan Fire arsonist.

Wearing a blue Oxford button-down shirt and dress pants and seated behind a pair of public defenders, Ivan Geronimo Gomez, 31, listens through a pair of black headphones to a live Spanish translation of the court proceeding that unfolds before him, at which he is the center. Gomez is the man the Monterey County District Attorney has charged with arson for allegedly starting the Dolan Fire on Aug. 18, 2020, a Big Sur blaze that burned roughly 125,000 acres, injured several firefighters and killed 11 California condors.

Gomez’s day in court has been plagued by delays but the trial finally kicked off on March 28. On one side of the court room, Deputy District Attorney Meredith Sillman, a 17-year veteran, is working to convict Gomez on 16 felony counts—three arson charges, an illegal marijuana cultivation charge, another for throwing rocks at cars, and 11 animal cruelty charges for the condors. Battling the charges on behalf of Gomez is public defender Michael Belter, who says his own brush with death has triggered a personal transformation over the last five months. In October, only days before the trial was set to begin, Belter collapsed at the entrance of the courthouse after his heart stopped beating; he was brought back to life after three defibrillator shocks. 

Gomez has waived his right to a jury, which means his verdict will be decided solely by Superior Court Judge Pamela Butler. Belter says the decision to waive the jury trial was strategic: In return, Sillman dropped the most aggressive arson charges. Belter also says leaving it up to a judge rather than a jury was preferable, since the case deals with the burning of beloved Big Sur and has garnered much public interest. 

Sillman brought nine people to the stand over the first two days of the trial, a mix of State Parks rangers, U.S. Forest Service as well as volunteer firefighters and fire investigators. 

USFS Fire Captain Casey Allen took to the stand on March 28–his 57th birthday—to recount the severe injuries, some of them permanent, he sustained while responding to the Dolan Fire. Fighting back tears, Allen told the court he was hospitalized for three months, underwent eight surgeries, and has not returned to work since. 

Officer Matt Swanson, who led the USFS’ investigation of the fire’s cause, testified on March 29. He said the fire was unusual because by the time it was reported, it had already burned “several hundred acres.” His team was able to narrow the ignition point to a 1.5-acre area near Lime Creek, an area marked by an illegal cannabis grow with “more than 1,000” healthy cannabis plants. 

Swanson told the court his team determined the probable cause was arson. However, Swanson told the court the conclusion was based largely on a statement Gomez made to rangers after they picked him up along Highway 1 on the night of the fire. Gomez told rangers he worked on a marijuana grow on the hill and started the fire in order to kill coworkers he considered “rats.” Responding to questioning from Belter, Swanson said his team found no conclusive physical evidence in the 1.5-acre area that the cause of the fire was arson. 

This is a key point for Belter. Although Gomez was deemed fit to stand trial by a psychiatrist, Belter plans to argue that Gomez is mentally unstable, his words are incoherent and he should not be trusted. Belter says in conversation, Gomez speaks nonsense and is clearly “battling demons.” Belter plans to highlight the interview Gomez gave to detectives while in custody, during which he said his best friend is a monkey and he wants to turn rocks into gold. 

Closing arguments are expected the week of April 4.

Editor's note: This is a longer version of the story that appears in print in the March 31-April 6 issue of the Weekly.