Glendale : Orr Prosecutors File Appeal

Federal prosecutors filed an appeal Tuesday to press for court permission to use Glendale Fire Capt. John Orr’s unpublished novel about a firefighter-turned-arsonist as evidence in Orr’s trial on eight counts of arson and attempted arson.

U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie ruled last week that the novel, entitled “Points of Origin,” cannot be introduced as evidence because it does not prove Orr set any fires and could be prejudicial to a jury.

But prosecutors contend that there are “uncanny similarities” between the fires described in the novel and those that Orr is charged with setting or trying to set in Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo counties.