Baye contends he was denied his right to a lawyer during the interrogation.
At left, Anthony Baye in court. At right, an excerpt from the affidavit supporting his arrest.This is an update of a story posted at 11:14 p.m.
NORTHAMPTON - After more than four hours of interrogation by police, a stoic Anthony P. Baye finally acknowledged that he set a fire at 17 Fair St. that killed two people, admitting to a state police trooper and detective that he never intended to hurt anyone.
Baye's confession was part of a video shown in Hampshire Superior Court to determine its admissibility at trial. The defense is asking that it be excluded because, they say, police denied Baye his right to have a lawyer present.
Previously in the video, a taciturn Baye is seen telling fire investigators he wants a lawyer if they are accusing him of setting the Dec. 27, 2009, blazes that terrified Northampton. [View a map and timeline of the fires.]
Judge Constance Sweeney will rule on the defense motion to suppress evidence from that interview. Baye, 26, faces two counts of first degree murder and some 40 other crimes in connection with 15 separate fires set that night. On of those fires destroyed the house at 17 Fair St. and took the lives of Paul Yeskie, 81, and his son, Paul Yeskie, Jr., 39.
In the video, state police trooper Michael Mazza, a fire investigator, and state police Sgt. Paul Zipper question Baye extensively about his whereabouts that night. After Baye tells them he was at a friend's house at the time of the fires, the officers debunk his alibi, telling him he and his Toyota Camry were seen by several police officers in the vicinity of the fire during those hours.
Mazza that tells Baye that he does not believe he is a bad person but likely set the fires because he had too much to drink, or because of "tomfoolery." Baye listens but makes little or no response.
"Let me prove to them that you didn't plan to do it," Mazza says, telling Baye he is on his side. "You need me to help you. I think your intentions were just screwing off."
After about two hours, Baye is seen asking for a lawyer. Mazza and Zipper assure him they will provide a lawyer but urge him to talk to them, saying it is in his own best interest. Noting that he could be charged with murder for the deaths of the Yeskies, Mazza says, "You need me to be reporting (to his superiors) that this is not murder, You didn't go there with the intention of killing anyone. Only you can tell them it was an accident."
After minutes of silence, Baye finally admits that it was a mistake.
The hearing will determine how much evidence the judge will allow the prosecution to present at Baye's trial. Defense lawyers David P. Hoose and Thomas Miranda contend that police stopped Baye without probable cause while he was driving around in the vicinity of the fires on the night of Dec. 29. They have filed a motion to suppress that evidence as well as Baye's Jan. 4 interview with police, where he admitted to setting some of the fires. Baye contends he was denied his right to a lawyer during that interrogation.
The bodies of Paul Yeskie, Sr., 81, and his son, Paul Yeskie, Jr., 39, were discovered near an open window. Investigators believe they were trying to escape the fire at their 17 Fair St. home when they were overcome byu smoke. On Tuesday, the court heard a tape of a 911 call in which Paul Yeskie, Jr. reports the fire in a frantic voice, crying that he can't get out. His mother, Elaine Yeskie, who was in the courtroom, covered her face and sobbed as she listened.