Prosecution Can’t Use Book Against Orr : Arson: A judge says the unpublished novel about a firefighter-turned-arsonist would be too prejudicial. The trial has been delayed a week.

Federal prosecutors this week were pondering the future of their arson case against Glendale Fire Capt. John L. Orr after a judge ruled that they cannot use a key piece of evidence: Orr’s unpublished novel about a firefighter who intentionally sets fires.

U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie said Monday that he will postpone Orr’s trial for one week to give prosecutors time to decide whether to appeal his decision.

Prosecutors have argued that there are “uncanny similarities” between Orr’s book, “Points of Origin,” and the eight retail store fires Orr is charged with setting, or trying to set, in Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo counties.

In the book, the firefighter-arsonist used time-delay ignition devices similar to ones employed in the crimes attributed to Orr and struck at the same type of businesses, investigators said.

In letters to prospective publishers, Orr, Glendale’s chief arson investigator, wrote that the work was fact-based and concerned an actual arsonist still at large.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Walter F. Brown Jr. argued that the book should be admitted.

“I would tell the jury that the person who wrote the book knows about the arsons charged in this case,” he said.

But Rafeedie said the novel does not prove that Orr set any fires and ruled that the manuscript could improperly influence a jury.

“The prejudicial effect would make your job very easy,” the judge told prosecutors. “I believe this evidence should be excluded because of its prejudicial effect.”

Assistant U.S. Atty. Stefan D. Stein, the co-prosecutor, told the judge that “this evidence is absolutely critical to this case” and indicated that the decision may be appealed. He said there was insufficient time to address the issue before Orr’s trial, which was scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Rafeedie then postponed the proceeding until April 21.

Meanwhile, Orr, 42, of Eagle Rock, remains under electronically monitored house arrest.

Defense attorney Douglas McCann said he was prepared to dispute the value of the manuscript at trial.

“John Orr could testify about some of the dissimilarities” between the book and the real arson incidents, McCann said. For example, the fire-setting device described in the novel would not work in real life, the attorney said.

Also at Monday’s hearing, Rafeedie ruled that prosecutors can use their other key piece of evidence: Orr’s fingerprint found on a fire-setting device in Bakersfield.

Investigators say the same type of device--made of matches, a cigarette, a rubber band and yellow lined paper--was used in other blazes allegedly set by Orr.

McCann argued that the print should be excluded because many arsonists use such devices.

But Rafeedie replied, “What makes it unique is his fingerprint.”

The judge also ruled that McCann cannot seek testimony from a deputy sheriff who told investigators that he saw Orr at an arson scene, then later admitted he had made a mistake.

McCann said he wanted to call the deputy to the stand to show that some witnesses who have tied Orr to the fires are unreliable.

But prosecutors said they did not intend to subpoena the deputy as a witness, and Rafeedie ruled that the man’s misidentification was not relevant to the case.