The husband of Denver District Attorney Beth McCann was sentenced Thursday to 10 days in jail for leaving slash piles burning unattended in northern Colorado last year.
Christopher Linsmayer was charged after he left several slash piles burning near his property outside Kremmling last October. He pleaded guilty in July to attempted arson and must turn himself in to the Grand County jail Nov. 1, The Denver Post reported.
Linsmayer apologized during the hearing and said he would never burn on his property again. He said he burned the slash piles to eliminate flammable debris from the property and to mitigate wildfire risk.
“I’m so sorry and remorseful for what I did that day, but I can assure you there was never any intent to cause damage or stress to my neighbors or the Grand County community,” he said. “I will never start another fire on my property.”
Defense attorney Jack DiCola said Linsmayer set the fires the evening of Oct. 25, 2020, when there was a foot of snow on the ground and checked them the following day before leaving the property because he believed they were extinguished. The piles reignited, however, and firefighters responded to extinguish the flames.
McCann attended the virtual hearing Thursday but did not speak. She previously said in a statement that she regretted the incident.
Linsmayer was previously suspected of unintentionally starting a 10-acre (4 hectare) wildfire near Kremmling in 2016 that forced the evacuation of about a dozen homes.