High court kicks back deadly ’99 Lynn arson case

LYNN – The state’s highest court Thursday overturned a judge’s ruling that suppressed a Lynn woman’s statements that she set a 1999 fire, killing five people in the Highlands.Nearly nine years after the fatal blaze, lawyers are still at odds over which statements can be used at the woman’s trial.Thursday’s ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) revives the possibility of prosecutors using statements Kathleen Hilton made to a court officer following her arraignment on murder and arson charges.Hilton purportedly confessed to setting the deadly fire and talked about her motive. She also allegedly told the court officer: “I hope my son forgives me. I could have killed my grandchildren.”A lower court judge had suppressed those statements, ruling Hilton did not make them voluntarily because of her debilitated mental condition. But the SJC determined the judge used an incorrect legal standard to make his suppression ruling and ordered the issue sent back to the lower court to decide again.Hilton is charged with five counts of second-degree murder, arson and causing injury to a firefighter in the Feb. 24, 1999 fire at 44-46 High Rock St.The district attorney’s office has alleged Hilton set the fire to get back at her son’s teenage ex-girlfriend, who lived in the house with the couple’s two children. The intended targets survived, but three other children and two adults who also lived in the building died in the inferno. The victims were 34-year-old Heriberto Feliciano, his 32-year old wife, Sonia Hernandez, their daughters Maria Felicano, 13, and Sonia Hernandez, 12, and a niece, 11-year-old Glorimar Santiago.At the time of the fire, Hilton was 52 years old and lived at 112 Hollingsworth St. She was found competent to stand trial despite her claims of being pyrokinetic – capable of starting fires with her mind. Arson investigators said the fire was started with scented lamp oil.Hilton’s attorney, Michael Natola, said the motive alleged by prosecutors doesn’t make sense. “Her two grandchildren are in the same apartment with their mother, and she adored those kids,” he said. “It just doesn’t make sense that knowing that the grandchildren were in that building that she would set it on fire.”Natola said Hilton’s trial has been repeatedly delayed as the defense has battled with prosecutors over which of her statements can be used. Suppression rulings from the lower court have been appealed several times.(Associated Press material was used in this report).