A jury convicted an Illinois man Wednesday of setting the Lake County Jail lobby on fire on June 5, 2023.
Terrance Craig, 42, of Ford Heights, Illinois, was charged with two counts of arson and one count of intimidation. The jury deliberated for about 90 minutes.
His sentencing is Feb. 3.
During the trial, Deputy Prosecutor Gary Marek admitted police wrongly charged an initial suspect.
Craig was arrested after he showed up June 12 to the Hammond Police station ranting in a similar way to the arsonist — including how he had a chip in his brain and ex-U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb wanted to kill him. He wore a hat similar to the suspect on the video.
He admitted setting the jail lobby on fire and said another man was charged.
Late in the trial, after prosecutors rested their case, defense lawyer Benjamin Murphy told Judge Salvador Vasquez Wednesday he needed more time for his team to examine two cell phones he recently requested.
Murphy said he was looking for an initial June 5, 2023 news article from the fire.
Deputy Prosecutor Keith Anderson said he didn’t object to Murphy introducing the article and initial Sheriff’s press release, but objected to adding charging documents from the first suspect in an intimidation case that happened a year before. Murphy argued the man was rambling incoherently in that case.
Judge Salvador Vasquez denied Murphy’s request to introduce those charging documents, saying it was too unrelated and he couldn’t tie it to the fire.
Court records showed Murphy subpoenaed Times reporter Bob Kasarda on Jan. 2 about the article. Lawyer Jane Callies, representing the newspaper, successfully quashed the subpoena.
A June 5, 2023 video showed a man dumping liquid from a container, then lighting a match. Three employees behind the glass partition quickly ran deeper into the building and no one was hurt.
The suspect left before officers arrived.
