Good evening after a long day in Shasta County-- where a judge followed through today on his plan to dismiss felony charges against PG&E for starting the 2020 #ZoggFire.

If the case had been allowed to go before a jury, prosecutors say PG&E would have been found guilty of 4 manslaughter felonies: "That's sad that that was taken away from us and taken away from the family members."

Watch tonight's coverage from #ABC10 / #FirePowerMoney: https://youtu.be/_UYftfVobGI

#ZoggFire #PGE #PGEManslaughterHearing #Shasta #wildfires #ABC10 #California

"This resolution... it does not make me happy," Bridgett says.

She wanted to take PG&E to trial, but it wasn't possible in her judgement.

Bridgett says PG&E would have been found guilty if the case was allowed to go before a jury. She says Judge Flynn's plan to toss the case out is the reason that won't happen.

#ZoggFire #PGE #PGEManslaughterHearing #Shasta #wildfires #ABC10 #California #FirePowerMoney

DA Bridgett says she talked to the families, to direct some of this money toward causes that honor the memories of the 4 people killed.

Some $ will go to scholarships, an animal evac center, the Igo-Ono school... which will make a new play structure in memory of 8-year-old Feyla.

There's also "Feyla's fund" to assist families recovering from disasters.

#ZoggFire #PGE #PGEManslaughterHearing #Shasta #wildfires #ABC10 #California #FirePowerMoney

The deal has PG&E paying $50M, also enforcement/oversight provisions, Bridgett says.

Added weather stations, undergrounding, removal of abandoned lines are all part of the agreement, DA Bridgett says.

Also changes to tree inspection practices, requiring more process/sign-offs to de-list trees (not cut) that are marked as known hazards.

#PGE #ZoggFire #PGEManslaughterHearing #Shasta #wildfires #ABC10 #California #FirePowerMoney #ZoggFire

She praised Judge Boeckman, who bound PG&E over for trial after a preliminary hearing.... and says she disagrees with Judge Flynn who announced his intent to toss the charges.

Bridgett says she's not willing to gamble with the outcome, hence the civil settlement-- which she says will provide tangible changes now.

#PGE #PGEManslaughterHearing #Shasta #wildfires #ABC10 #California #FirePowerMoney

DA Bridgett is up. "PG&E's failure to remove a hazard tree that they had marked for removal... fell and caused the devastating #ZoggFire."

She names the 4 people killed.

"PG&E needs to change its practices to save lives... it was my desire to criminally convict PG&E to accomplish this goal."

#PGE #PGEManslaughterHearing #Shasta #wildfires #ABC10 #California #FirePowerMoney

We are awaiting a news conference with Shasta County DA Stephanie Bridgett regarding the settlement deal and dropping of #ZoggFire criminal charges against PG&E.

Family members of people killed in the fire are here.

Will provide video later today, meantime I'll post updates here.

#PGE #PGEManslaughterHearing #Shasta #wildfires #ABC10 #California #FirePowerMoney

"It's just almost like rubber stamping now," #ZoggFire survivor Kyle Drake tells me at a protest outside of court.

"Eventually the last straw will come around. I don't know what town's gonna get destroyed that's finally the last straw. Maybe somewhere on the coast. Los Gatos. Maybe then someone would pay attention."

#PGE #PGEManslaughterHearing #Shasta #wildfires #ABC10 #California #FirePowerMoney

BREAKING: Judge Daniel Flynn dismisses the manslaughter case against PG&E for the 2020 #ZoggFire, pending a civil settlement between the DA and PG&E.

#PGE #PGEManslaughterHearing #Shasta #wildfires #ABC10 #California

Judge Flynn is getting testy with the property owners' attorney, who just made a filing. The judge is reviewing it now.

The attorney, Tyler Lalaguna, has said his clients have not been given property treatment by the DA under the victims bill of rights.

#ZoggFire #PGEManslaughterHearing #Shasta #wildfires #ABC10 #California

BREAKING: DA Stephanie Bridgett is asking Judge Flynn to take the dismissal of the #ZoggFire case, without prejudice-- pending a CIVIL agreement between the prosecution and PG&E.

This is similar to what happened in the #KincadeFire and #DixieFire last year, when 6 DAs settled their criminal investigations.

A lawyer representing property owners is objecting, arguing the deal affects potential restitution payments to his clients.

#PGEManslaughterHearing #Shasta #wildfires #ABC10 #California

Friends of the McLeod family protest outside the #ShastaCounty courtroom of Judge Daniel Flynn.

The judge announced his intent to dismiss the felony manslaughter and reckless arson charges against PG&E for the #ZoggFire. It was set for trial June 6. Hearing is about to start.

#FirePowerMoney #abc10 #pge #california #PGEManslaughterHearing

Hanna is back up, arguing PG&E could have easily found and removed the damaged tree.

He's pointing to evidence from the 7-day prelim that the lean of the tree warranted a more thorough inspection.

"All the gray pines in the forest lean," Kravis says.

(FWIW: I have talked to some utility tree inspectors who believe that every gray pine close enough to strike power lines ought to be removed.)

We're done. Judge says to expect his written ruling before the end of the week.

#ZoggFire
#PGEManslaughterTrial #PGEManslaughterHearing #PGE #Shasta #ABC10 #crime #wildfires #utilities

The judge says he sees room for an argument that PG&E failed to provide "continuum of care" between inspections and doing the work of cutting trees.

Kravis keeps pointing back to the question of whether the inspections complied with the ISA manual.

The judge seems skeptical that he should interpret the case so narrowly that it hinges on whether PG&E followed a manual.

#ZoggFire
#PGEManslaughterTrial #PGEManslaughterHearing #PGE #Shasta #ABC10 #crime #wildfires #utilities

PG&E attorney Kravis gets to rebut:

"The question is whether PG&E's actions fell below an applicable standard of conduct."

He says if he DA wants to hold them to the standard of 360-degree inspections of trees, they needed to bring evidence that 360-degree inspections are the applicable standard. He's reiterating PG&E's position that the ISA Utility manual *is* the legal standard-- and if the company followed it, then it cannot be found criminally reckless.

The judge has read written arguments and the preliminary hearing transcripts.

Judge Flynn interjects, saying there are inferences to be made that PG&E acted recklessly based on the record he reviewed. For instance, the lean of the tree should have triggered a deeper, 360-degree inspection.

#ZoggFire #PGEManslaughterTrial #PGEManslaughterHearing #PGE #Shasta #ABC10 #crime #wildfires #utilities

Hanna is trying to convince the judge that PG&E's inactions in starting the #ZoggFire can be viewed as an action-- one of the reasons the judge was leaning against upholding the misdemeanors.

Judge Flynn doesn't seem sold, but he's hearing Hanna draw an analogy to someone starting a fire with a lit cigarette.

#PGEManslaughterTrial #PGEManslaughterHearing #PGE #Shasta #ABC10 #crime #wildfires #utilities

Hanna calls PG&E's arguments about industry standards a "red herring."

PG&E's obligation is to remove trees at risk of striking power lines, he says.

He points out PG&E knew that people in this area only had one way out-- that the danger of death was higher if PG&E didn't do the necessary safety work.

A reasonable person would have done better inspections and make sure the tree was removed, he adds.

(What a "reasonable person" would do is part of the criminal negligence standard, which the jury would consider if and when the #ZoggFire case goes to trial.)

Hanna switches gears to argue in favor of upholding the 2 misdemeanor charges (counts 9&10.)

#PGEManslaughterTrial #PGEManslaughterHearing #PGE #Shasta #ABC10 #crime #wildfires #utilities

Ben Hanna opens up by arguing that the standard isn't the ISA Utility manual-- it's the legal standard of reckless, criminally negligent behavior in the alleged #ZoggFire crimes.

"It was very obvious that this tree should have been removed," Hanna says. "Multiple inspections took place and the tree was not removed."

He says it happened because the defendant (PG&E) instructed its crews not to do 360-degree walkaround inspections of trees that could strike power lines.

(The gaping wound was on the uphill side, which wasn't visible if you looked up at it from the power lines. But it was leaning toward the lines, another reason the DA argues PG&E should have looked at it more closely.)

#PGEManslaughterTrial #PGEManslaughterHearing #PGE #Shasta #ABC10 #crime #wildfires #utilities

Kravis is pointing to testimony from the #ZoggFire preliminary hearing where witnesses pointed to the manual (the ISA Utility manual) as *the* standard for doing tree work along power lines.

The DA team isn't up yet in court, but has pointed out in papers that there's no legal authority behind that manual.

Kravis says PG&E's contractors acted in good faith-- the defense argument is that the DA is trying to prosecute the company over "judgement calls."

DA team is about to speak.

#PGEManslaughterTrial #PGEManslaughterHearing #PGE #Shasta #ABC10 #crime #wildfires #utilities

Kravis is citing case law from other fire-related cases which drew a line at the "standard" of conduct.

He points to an arborist association manual introduced at the prelim, arguing that it *is* the standard in this case.

If PG&E followed the standard, then as a matter of law PG&E wasn't criminally negligent for starting the #ZoggFire, Kravis argues.

The DA contends PG&E identified and then ignored an obvious major wound that made the tree a threat to strike power lines and start a fire.

(It's worth noting PG&E's federal probation judge already found the company committed violations by starting this fire.)

#PGEManslaughterTrial #PGEManslaughterHearing #PGE #Shasta #ABC10 #crime #wildfires #utilities