Arson confession thrown out

A Nassau County Court judge threw out the alleged videotaped confession of Caleb Lacey, the 20-year-old former volunteer firefighter who is accused of setting a fire at his neighbor’s house last February that killed a woman and her three children.

Judge Jerald Carter ruled that the eight-hour video cannot be used as evidence in the case because the sound quality is too poor, with Lacey’s voice low and garbled. His questioning was the first in the county to be taped by police from beginning to end, after the Nassau County Police Department enacted a new policy requiring that all interrogations related to homicide or serious robbery cases be recorded on video.

The alleged confession was a key piece of evidence in the case, but according to the office of Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, there is other evidence as well, including a surveillance video showing Lacey’s car near the North Lawrence fire and gasoline found in the lining of his fire pants. “We believe we still have a very strong murder case,” said Eric Phillips, a spokesman for Rice. He added that the judge had yet to rule on the untaped interviews Lacey had with detectives.

Lacey, a first-year volunteer with the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department, was accused of dousing the only stairwell in a two-story North Lawrence building with gasoline, setting a fire and then driving to the firehouse. Morena Vanegas, 46, her 19-year-old son, Saul Preza, and her daughters Andrea and Susanna Vanegas, 13 and 9, died in the blaze.

Police said that Lacey, one of five children of the Rev. Richard Lacey of the Outreach Church of God in Christ in Lawrence, had hoped to respond to the scene and save those inside the burning building. He was arrested on arson and murder charges in March, and pleaded not guilty. He is being held at the Nassau County Jail. Lacey’s attorney, Christopher Cassar, said that his client mostly denied committing the arson during the taped interrogation. “The ruling is a double-edged sword because Caleb is on that tape for several hours denying it,” Cassar said. “We’ve constantly said the videotape statement was coerced.”

Cassar also added that Lacey exercised his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself during the interview, but Cassar claims that the detective on the case, Carl Re, continued to interrogate him. “We intend to prove Caleb Lacey was not involved in setting the fire, and the police in this case were incompetent and arrested the wrong person,” Cassar said.

Pre-trial hearings were scheduled to continue on Wednesday, after the Herald went to press. Detectives who worked on the case were expected to testify, and Carter was expected to rule on the admissibility of their testimony.

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