COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The criminal case of a woman who was charged with second degree arson in connection with a March 2021 house fire on South Jefferson has come to a conclusion in Branch County Circuit Court.
According to on line court records, 59-year-old Catherine Louise Allen has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity which was accepted by Circuit Court Judge Bill O’Grady.
According to Michigan law, when such a plea is filed in a criminal case the court immediately commits that person to the Center for Forensic Psychiatry for up to 60 days. The mental condition of the individual is then examined and evaluated.
Allen was taken into custody by Coldwater Police shortly after the fire. The arson charge was filed a month later, but the formal arraignment was put off as Allen underwent mental evaluations after a petition was filed in Branch County Probate Court.
Allen is accused of using a BIC lighter to light a one-foot-high stack of papers of fire in a back room closet.
According to court documents, she allegedly told investigators that “the Gods told her to burn it down.”
Coldwater Fire Chief David Schmaltz said at the time of the fire that the two-story wood-frame house was a total loss.
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