’99 Lynn fire case to begin on Feb. 1

SALEM – The case of Kathleen Hilton, charged with starting a deadly 1999 Lynn fire that killed five people in the Highlands, is ready for trial on Feb. 1 after a Superior Court judge again ruled the statements Hilton made to a court officer be excluded from her trial.But the commonwealth says it may appeal the ruling once more.Judge Isaac Bornstein handed up his ruling Wednesday in Salem Superior Court, again excluding the statements Hilton made to female court officer Susan Marrin, following her arraignment on murder and arson charges on March 1, 1999.That morning at Lynn District Court, Hilton was complaining about her leg irons and told Marrin that her son had told her leg irons hurt and were no good.When Marrin asked Hilton who her son was, Hilton replied that he had appeared in court the previous week. Marrin said that Hilton continued, without being asked or prompted, “I hope my son forgives me. I could have killed my grandchildren.”Marrin made a verbal report of the incident and statement to police, which later prompted the controversy over the voluntary nature of Hilton’s statement.In December the Supreme Judicial Court overturned Bornstein’s first decision determining that he used an incorrect legal standard to make his ruling and ordered it sent back to him to decide again.In this newest ruling, Bornstein says he “credits testimony from two doctors who examined Hilton and their conclusions that she was mildly mentally retarded, suffering from schizotypal personality disorder (a desire for social isolation) and psychotic episodes, exhibiting bizarre and delusional behavior, had a tenuous connection with reality, exercised poor judgment, had a tendency to misinterpret events and was functionally illiterate.”He went on to say he considered all the evidence and the totality of the circumstances under which she made her statements on March 1, 1999 and finds that “the commonwealth has failed to meet its burden of proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Hilton’s statements were the product of rational intellect and free will and voluntary.”Assistant District Attorney Marsha H. Slingerland asked for a two-week extension so that the commonwealth may evaluate Bornstein’s findings to see if they are going to appeal his decision again.Judge Howard J. Whitehead set the case down to Feb. 1.Defense lawyer Michael Natola has asserted from the onset that the self-incriminating words by Hilton were uttered “involuntarily.”Hilton’s trial has been delayed while Natola has been battling prosecutors over which of her statements can be used, some have been allowed, but the statement to Marrin has been suppressed.In the meantime, Hilton, 61, formerly of 112 Hollingsworth St., Lynn, has denied the charges and remains held in Framingham State Prison for Women.Hilton faces five counts of second-degree murder, as well as arson, and causing injury to a firefighter in the Feb. 24, 1999 triple-decker fire at 44-46 High Rock St.The fire killed Heriberto Felicano, 34, his wife Sonia Hernandez, 32, and their two daughters, Maria, 13, and Sonia, 12, as well as 11-year-old niece Glorimar Santiago. All were trapped by the fire in their third-floor apartment. Lynn firefighter Eric Hanson was also injured fighting the blaze.Based on other statements Hilton made, she said the fire was set to get back her son’s ex-girlfriend, who lived in the house with the couple’s two children. She apparently described to authorities how she used oil and a cigarette to set the blaze.The intended targets survived, but the five others perished in the fire.Hilton was arrested three days after the fire.She faces up to 15 years in state prison on each of the five counts of second-degree murder, if convicted.